Rwanda’s Chamber of Deputies has approved amendments to the electoral law introducing changes in the way district and the City of Kigali councilors are elected.
Under the revised law, councilors at district and City of Kigali level will now be elected through an indirect voting system rather than by direct universal suffrage.
The amendments were adopted on Friday, May 8, 2026, after the draft law had earlier been revised by the Senate of Rwanda.
Rwanda’s electoral law, first enacted in 2019, has now been amended for the fourth time.
While presenting the draft amendments to lawmakers in March 2026, Local Government Minister Dominique Habimana said the reforms are intended to improve the management and organization of future elections, particularly local government polls that Rwanda is preparing to hold.
The revised law provides that the eight members of district advisory councils will be elected indirectly.
Government officials argued that the change follows reforms in the structure of district councils, whose membership has been streamlined to eight councilors. Authorities say the indirect voting system will reduce the burden of repeated voting on residents by allowing elected representatives to form the electoral college responsible for choosing council members.
The amendments also remove detailed provisions defining electoral colleges for district and City of Kigali leadership positions from the organic law itself. Instead, those arrangements will now be determined through a presidential order.
Officials said the change is aimed at making the legal framework more flexible and avoiding frequent amendments to the organic law whenever adjustments are made to the structure or functioning of local government institutions.
