Parliamentary Representation

​The President, Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Chamber ofDeputies cannot be from the same political party under theconstitution. The President is elected every seven years, and may servea maximum of two terms. 

Parliamentary representation is governed by a series of threshold quotas:

• Anyparty needs to receive over 5% of the popular vote in order to gainparliamentary representation (the same as the lower threshold system inGermany and Italy, which ensures that minority, extremist parties havebarriers to gaining a foothold in parliament)
• Any party which receives over 50% of the popular vote can still only receive a maximum of 50% of the seats in parliament
• Similarthreshold rules apply to regional and local assembly elections, andadditionally representation throughout the judiciary

Bylaw, at least one third of the Parliamentary representation must befemale. In the parliamentary election of September 2008, 56% of seatswere won by women, making Rwanda the country with the highestpercentage of female parliamentarians in the world.

Rwanda vs.the United States: In the United States, the House of Representativesand the Senate can be dominated by one political party.  Furthermore,the female representation in the 111th United States Congress is 17%making American women clearly underrepresented.

The Senate

​The Senate has at least 26 members, each with a term of eight years:

• Eight posts are appointed by the president
• 12 are elected representatives of the former 11 provinces and the city of Kigali
• Four members are designated by the Forum of Political Organizations (a quasi-   governmental organization that currently is an arm of the dominant political party)
• One member is a university lecturer or researcher elected by the public universities
• Any past President has permanent membership in the Senate. 

Under this scheme, up to 12 appointees to the Senate are appointed by the President and his party. The elected members must be approved by the Supreme Court. The 14 Supreme Court members are designated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 

Rwanda vs. the US: The United States has the exact same approval process for the Supreme Court candidates. 

The Chamber of Deputies

The Chamber of Deputies has 80 members, each with a 5 year term:

• 24 posts are reserved for women and are elected by province
• 53 posts can be men or women and are also are elected by local elections
• 2 posts are elected by the National Youth Council
• 1 post is elected by Federation of the Associations of the Disabled.

Rwanda on a Global Scale: Rwanda has the most women in government, as it is in their constitution to empower women to these positions.