The National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Thursday, June 6, announced the provisional list of candidates approved to run for president in the 2024 elections, with three out of nine hopefuls meeting the requirements.
The unapproved aspirants, all of whom were independent, failed to meet a number of requirements, mainly related to the list of 600 signatures of supporters from all districts.
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The candidates are incumbent President Paul Kagame of RPF-Inkotanyi, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and Phillipe Mpayimana, who is an independent.
The electoral commission will announce the final list of approved candidates on June 14. Voting for president and members of parliament is slated for July 14-16.
The six hopefuls who did not meet the requirements are Herman Manirareba, Innocent Hakizimana, Fred Sekikubo Barafinda, Thomas Habimana, Diane Rwigara and Jean Mbanda.
According to the electoral laws, the aspirants have at least five days to fulfill the requirements on which they fell short before the final list of candidates is announced.
However, NEC said that the deadline to submit requirements related to 600 signatures of supporters elapsed on May 30.
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Below are the requirements these presidential hopefuls failed to meet, according to NEC.
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Herman Manirareba did not provide the list of 600 registered voters who supported his candidacy.
Each independent candidate is required to collect at least 12 signatures of registered voters from each of the 30 districts of Rwanda.
Innocent Hakizimana did not provide at least 12 signatures of supporters who are registered in Nyagatare and Gatsibo districts and who are registered on the voters' list in those districts.
For some of Hakizimana's supporters registered in Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Gisagara and Kirehe districts, their identity (ID) numbers were non-existent. Other ID numbers did not belong to the people whose names were provided.
Among his supporters, there are names that appear more than once but with different signatures.
Some of people on the list submitted by Hakizimana said that they did not support him, according to NEC.
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For Fred Sekikubo Barafinda, he did not provide signatures of at least 12 supporters with ID cards that were issued in and are on voters' list in the districts of Nyabihu, Musanze, Nyagatare, Kirehe, Gakenke, Rubavu, Rutsiro, Bugesera, Ngororero, Gatsibo, and Kayonza.
On some Barafinda's list, there are names of his supporters without their ID numbers or there are the supporters' names and the ID numbers but without their signatures.
For Thomas Habimana, he did not provide signatures of at least 12 supporters with ID cards that were issued in the districts of Nyaruguru, Nyamasheke, Bugesera, Kirehe and Rwamagana.
On Habimana's list of supporters from the districts of Nyaruguru, Nyamasheke, Bugesera, Gisagara, Rwamagana, and Gatsibo, there are non-existent ID numbers, while other ID numbers are not registered on the names on the list.
Some of the people on the Habimana's list have said that they did not support him, according to NEC.
For Diane Rwigara, she submitted a copy of a court document instead of her criminal record, according to NEC.
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In place of a document affirming that her sole citizenship is Rwandan, Rwigara submitted her birth certificate.
On the list of supporters Rwigara submitted, she did not provide signatures of at least 12 supporters with ID cards that were issued in, and are on voters' list in the districts of Kamonyi, Gatsibo, Gasabo, Musanze, Nyagatare, Burera, Nyabihu and Kayonza.
On Rwigara's list of supporters, those from Huye and Gisagara districts had non-existent ID numbers.
According to NEC, some of the ID numbers on Rwigara's list are not registered in the names of the supporters.
For Jean Mbanda, he did not submit signatures of at least 12 supporters whose ID numbers were issued in, and are on the list of voters in, 27 districts.
Mbanda submitted lists of supporters from only three districts, namely Gasabo, Bugesera and Kicukiro.
