Election Day!

The much anticipated day in Rwanda has finally arrived! After an intense 20 days of campaigning, Rwandans finally had the chance today to cast their ballots!

We met two Rwandan participants at our guesthouse this morning and we followed them each to their polling stations to see how the process worked. The first one was the station that the President was set to vote at at 10:30...we just missed him, but still had to go through intense security. We followed her in and she explained the entire process to us. She was so excited for election day, all dressed up in a suit and everything! Everyone in line was dressed up for the occasion, music was blasting and the place was decorated so nicely. The station is assigned by "district" and then residents must go find the room their "cell" is designated to (a smaller community division). Each cell has their room decorated in different colours and decorations. Voters go in and stamp their thumbprint next to the name of the candidate (and picture of candidate and political party name and symbol picture). They then stamp their pinky finger next to the registration list and cast their ballot in the dropbox. The smiles and pride of everyone walking out of the polls were amazing and so energizing! Everyone was so excited to vote! Made me realize how much I take Canadian democracy and my privelege to vote so much for granted.

We followed another participant to his polling station and watched him follow the same process.
We were then invited to one of their houses for lunch....which, Rwandan styles took 4 hours. After a round of fanta, the local beer "Bananna beer" and a huge festive meal and dancing watching election coverage.

The preliminary results are about to be announced and the group is meeting at a local bar to watch them be announced!

The energy in the city is amazing and I am so excited to have been in Kigali and such an important time for the country! Tomorrow is most likely a National Holiday and celebration so we will see what the day consists of!

Will write a post soon to discuss my homestay experience, the life changing trip to the Eastern Province and everthing else that I have experienced here!!

Ijoro Ryiza!