KIGALI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Rwanda National Electoral Commission (NEC) has approved 950 foreign and local observers for the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for next month.
Rwandans will go to the polls from Sept. 2 to 4 to elect members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house, for a five-year term.
Addressing both local and international poll observers gathered at NEC auditorium in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Thursday, Kalisa Mbanda, NEC chairman said that the electoral body has received a total of 950 observers.
The NEC has so far approved 184 foreign electoral observers and 766 local observers from several areas of the country, he said. "The number of observers is still less compared to voting sites."
He noted that the electoral body is expecting more observers within the next few days ahead of the polls next week.
Election observers include representatives from Rwandan civil society groups and political parties, representatives foreign embassies accredited to Rwanda, and those from the African Union and the Francophone organization, according to NEC.
According to Mbanda, voting will take place at 2,473 polling stations across the country.
According to the electoral commission, a total of 7,172,612 Rwandans were registered to take part in the parliamentary polls.
Parliamentary campaigns, which started on Aug. 13, will run through Sept. 1.
The number of parliamentary candidates is 521, including 302 from political parties, four independent candidates, 26 for the youth, 10 for people living with disabilities, and 179 for women slots, according to 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.
