Kigali says it needs US $2.6 million for legislative polls

Rwanda's National Electoral Commission has called on international donors to provide 1.4 billion Rwandan francs (about US $2.6 million) in support of legislative elections due to be held in late September and early October, the Rwanda News Agency reported on Thursday.

Under Rwanda's 2003 Constitution, parliament will consist of two bodies: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The agency cited the electoral commission’s executive secretary, Pierre-Damien Habumuremyi, as saying that Belgium, Sweden, Britain and the European Union had agreed to provide contributions through a fund managed by the UN Development Programme.

Habumuremyi added that some donors had not kept their pledges to finance the presidential elections, citing the example of The Netherlands, which withheld funding because it did not receive satisfactory answers from the government regarding the disappearance of opposition figures. He said, however, that this did not prevent the elections from taking place on schedule, as supplemental contributions were received from the public.

According to the electoral commission, legislative elections - the last phase of the nine-year transition following the 1994 genocide - are scheduled for 29 - 30 September and 2 October. Campaigning is due to begin on Saturday.

Rwanda witnessed the worst manifestation of divisive politics in 1994 when Hutu extremists killed about 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in a period of 100 days.