KIGALI, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda's ruling party Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) on Sunday approved 70 candidates who will represent the party in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for September this year.
The event to select parliament flag bearers was held at RPF headquarters in Kigali during RPF's political bureau meeting that attracted close to 2,000 party members including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who is also the party chairman.
The RPF parliamentary candidates were elected in party primaries held last month and have been presented by the party secretary general to the Sunday's meeting for approval.
Francois Ngarambe, Secretary General of RPF, read the list of the candidates which includes current members of parliament and new entrants.
According to him, the RPF had selected 80 candidates but left 10 places to other political parties including Centrist Democratic Party, Rwanda Socialist Party, Party for Progress and Concord, Democratic Union of the Rwandan People and the Prosperity and Solidarity Party.
The central African country is set to hold parliamentary elections from Sept. 2 to 4 to elect all the 80 members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, for a five-year term, according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
The elections of the lower house use one single nationwide constituency, where 53 seats will be directly elected by proportional representation. The other 27 seats reserved for special interest groups including women, the young and the disabled will be elected indirectly.
The application for the candidature of this year's parliamentary elections will be received from July 12 to 25, and the confirmed candidates will be announced on Aug. 6. The electoral campaigns will be held between Aug. 13 and Sept. 1, according to NEC.
