Rwanda Holds Elections

Rwandans braved downpours to vote Tuesday in local elections, the first secret ballot since the 1994 genocide, in which more than 500,000 people were slaughtered.

The elections are an effort to foster democracy in a country where politics have too often been based on ethnicity, said Protais Musoni, chairman of the central African country's National Electoral Commission.

"We ... need to conduct this in such a way as not to encourage conflict because of our history," Musoni said.

Nearly half of Rwanda's 8 million people have registered to vote in 92 rural districts and 14 urban districts. It will be the first time since 1963 that district councilors have been elected rather than appointed directly by the president.

"Turnout has been very good in the whole country. Even though it's raining, it's been very encouraging," Musoni said.

The election will also be the first time women will become district councilors. In addition to 1,550 councilors elected from the general population, another 517 council seats are being set aside for women and the same number for candidates between ages 18-to-35, Musoni said.

"We want women liberated so they can participate in leadership, and we also want to prepare the youth," he said.

In all, 8,114 candidates have registered.

Although political parties do exist in Rwanda, parties were barred from campaigns to prevent ethnic tensions from disrupting the elections.

Rwanda was ripped apart from April to July 1994, when Hutu militiamen and soldiers butchered at least 500,000 people, most of them minority Tutsis.

Rebels of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front, which sparked a civil war in October 1990, stopped the slaughter in July 1994 and ousted the extremist Hutu government.

Since then, the country has been ruled by a transitional government involving seven Tutsi and Hutu parties and led by President Paul Kagame, formerly the rebel leader.

The transitional government is supposed to lead the country until 2003, though there are no plans for national elections in the near future.

The last multiparty national elections were held in 1963.

The district elections were supposed to end Tuesday, but voting will continue Wednesday if rain proves to be disruptive, Musoni said.

The polls are being watched by 300 local and international observers. Provisional results are expected to be announced March 23, Musoni said.

© MMI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed