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KIGALI, Rwanda | Xinhua | Gertrude Kazarwa, a member of parliament (MP) from the opposition Liberal Party, was elected the Speaker of the Rwandan Parliament Wednesday during its inaugural session.
It came after the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected lawmakers for a five-year mandate following last month’s legislative elections. President Paul Kagame presided over the inauguration ceremony at the parliament building in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
The lower house of the bicameral national legislature of Rwanda has 80 lawmakers who participated in the voting. Kazarwa got 73 votes out of the 80 votes cast to become the fifth Speaker in post-genocide Rwanda, beating her only challenger Pie Nizeyimana, who got five votes. Two votes were declared invalid.
Kazarwa, 60, becomes the third woman to hold the highest position in the Parliament, after her predecessors Donatille Mukabalisa and Rose Mukantabana who served between 2013 and 2024, and 2008-2013, respectively.
A lawyer by training, the new Speaker served in Rwanda’s Senate, the upper house of the Parliament between 2014 and 2019.
With 51 female lawmakers, the proportion of women MPs in Rwanda’s new legislature has increased from 61 percent to 63.75 percent, maintaining the highest women representation in parliament in the world.
The parliament is composed of representatives from several political parties and special groups, including youth, women, and people with disabilities.
Also elected were two deputy speakers, Mussa Fazil Harerimana from the Ideal Democratic Party and Beline Uwineza from the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front.
Edouard Ngirente, who was reappointed by the president as the country’s prime minister Tuesday, also took oath during the same event.
Ngirente was first appointed to the position in August 2017. Before his first appointment as prime minister, the 51-year-old economist worked with the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C., as senior adviser to the executive director. ■
