{The Rwanda National Electoral Commission (RNEC) has official announced the final results of recent referendum vote held between 17th and 18th December 2015, where 98.3% of Rwandans voted “Yes”. }
The announcement was made yesterday evening by Kalisa Mbanda , the RNEC president. “It is hereby announced that during the referendum voting held on 17th and 18th December 2015, a total of 6,263,181 Rwandans cast valid votes with 6,154, 783 equivalent to 98.3% have voted ‘yes’ to the referendum question.
Mbanda said that elections were held safely in a free environment and commended all stakeholders at all levels that played a role during the successful organization of elections. Elections, he said, were witnessed by 630 international observers, over 620 Rwandans working as private individuals and various diplomats representing their embassies in Rwanda.
Mbanda added that elections were faced with only slight challenges that could not demerit the final results. The challenges in question include students who voted at polling stations where they were not registered, some polling stations didn’t welcome observers well due to some miscommunications and some registered voters without voter cards but carrying national IDs were allowed to vote.
Mbanda refuted allegations that Rwandans were not prepared well for the referendum. “It is impossible to register a 98% turn up when people are not well informed about what they are voting for,” he said.
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