Chamber of Deputies (Rwanda)

The Chamber of Deputies (Kinyarwanda: Umutwe w'Abadepite; French: Chambre des Députés) is the lower house of the bicameral national legislature of Rwanda. It was created under the new Constitution adopted by referendum in 2003.

Composition

The Chamber is made up of 80 deputies. Of these, 53 are elected for five-years term by proportional representation and 24 are elected by provincial councils; of the remainder, two are appointed by the National Youth Council, and one by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled.

Election result

The first election to the new Chamber of Deputies was held on 29 and 30 September 2003. Of 3,958,058 registered voters, 3,818,603 votes were cast (96.5% turnout) and the 53 directly elected seats were distributed as follows:

 Summary of the 30 September 2003 Chamber of Deputies of Rwanda election results

Parties		Votes	%	Seats
Coalition	Rwandese Patriotic Front (Front patriotique rwandais)	2,774,661	73.8	33
	Christian Democratic Party (Parti démocratique chrêtien)			3
	Islamic Democratic Party (Parti démocratique islamique)			2
	Rwandese Socialist Party (Parti socialiste rwandais)			1
	Democratic Union of the Rwandese People (Union démocratique du People rwandais)			1
Social Democratic Party (Parti social démocrate)		462,254	12.3	7
Liberal Party (Parti libéral)		396,978	10.6	6
Party for Progress and Concord (Parti pour le Progrès et la Concorde)		83,563	2.2	-
Total (turnout 96.5 %)		3,760,602	100.0	53
Source: African Elections

The first five parties make up the FPR-led ruling coalition.

With 51 out of 80 of its members being women, the Rwandan Chamber of Deputies has the highest proportion of women members of any lower or sole legislative chamber in the world.

See also

• List of Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Rwanda
• Senate of Rwanda, the upper house of the legislature