Electoral system for national legislature

Rwanda, Organic Law governing elections, N°004/2018.OL of 21/06/2018, accessed 19 September 2018

Article 83: Submission of lists of candidates of political organisations or coalition of political organisations.

Any political organisation or coalition of political organisations introduces a closed list of its candidates.

The closed list comprises a maximum of eighty (80) candidates.

The representative of a political organisation or coalition of political organisations submits to the Commission a list of candidates and their files as well as his/her power of attorney. […]

Article 91: Composition of the Chamber of Deputies and categories in which they are elected.

The Chamber of Deputies is composed of eighty (80) Deputies who are elected in the following categories:

1) fifty-three (53) Deputies who originate from political organisations, coalition of political organizations or independent candidates elected by universal suffrage through direct and by secret ballot;

2) twenty-four (24) women elected according to the administrative entities of the country;

3) two (2) Deputies elected by the National Youth Council;

4) one (1) Deputy elected by the National Council for Persons with Disabilities

Article 94: Modalities of calculating seats allocated to each list.

Subject to the provisions of Article 93 of this Organic Law, the number of seats to be allocated to each list is calculated by dividing the number of votes obtained by that list by the electoral quotient.

The electoral quotient is calculated by dividing the total number of votes of each list that has obtained at least five per cent (5%) of the valid votes cast by the number of remaining seats excluding seats of the independent candidates.

The remaining seats are distributed among the lists according to the system of the highest surplus.

In case there is only one seat remaining to be allocated and several lists have got the same number of remaining votes, that seat is given to the list which obtained the highest number of votes.

Article 95: Election of female Deputies.

Twenty-four (24) female Deputies are elected in secret ballot by specific organs in accordance with national administrative entities.

A Presidential Order determines the electoral constituency and the number of Deputies in every constituency in accordance with administrative entities of the country. It also determines the electoral college.

At each entity through which election has been conducted, candidates who obtain more votes are considered as elected according to the number of Deputies set for that electoral constituency.

However, when there are at least two (2) candidates with equal number of votes while in competition for the last slot to get the required number of seats, another round of elections is conducted between those with equal number of votes within a period of three (3) days.

The elections are repeated only once and if they obtain the same number of votes again, the winner is decided by drawing lots.

Instructions of the Commission determine modalities through which such elections are conducted.

53 seats are directly elected by closed List PR system with an electoral threshold of 5%, using the largest remainder method. 27 seats (24 women representatives; 3 youth and disabled) are inderectly elected.