LAST WEEK'S landmark elections in Rwanda marked an important step towards democracy for a country beleaguered by conflict since independence. 

Officials who conducted what were said by independent observers to be successful elections at cell, sector and commune (district) levels, said the polls showed the country was on the path to holding parliamentary polls once the Constitutional Commission completed its work. 

The National Assembly, in a law passed last October, established the National Electoral Commission with powers to conduct local government as well as parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Commission will issue provisional results on March 17 and hopes to release the final results on March 24, after investigating any complaints that may arise. On Tuesday, the government declared a public holiday to enable the 3.4 million registered voters to cast their ballots.

In last week's elections, voters elected counsellors up to district level. For the first time since independence, the district executive committees and overall heads were elected and not appointed by the central government. Mr Protais Musoni, the Electoral Commission chairman, said the move was aimed at "empowering the grassroots" under the ongoing decentralisation programme, and to promote democratic governance.

Rwanda has made giant strides towards democratisation following the polarisation of the country by the 1994 ethnic genocide and the lingering insecurity in the country's northwestern region bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Under the decentralisation programme pursued by President Paul Kagame's government, some powers and financial accountability have been devolved to the grassroots.

Electoral officials told The EastAfrican that the turnout was high, though rains on Tuesday hampered voting in some areas and forced extension of voting to Wednesday. The country's eight legal political parties monitored the polls, though they did not field candidates. Candidates stood on "individual merit."

Registration is mandatory, though voting is optional. A government official said voters turned out in large numbers to cast their ballots.

Campaigns for last week's elections started 15 days before the start of the polls and ended 24 hours before polling. The EC prepared and directed campaign meetings where candidates were given equal time to speak.

The law defines electoral offences, including forgery, double registration, erasure of names from registers, preventing a person from voting and illegal registration. Others include stopping voters from casting their ballots, intimidating voters and insulting election officials.

The electoral law says elections should be held by universal suffrage by secret ballot, but that at the cell and sector levels they can be carried out in some other manner that may be determined by law. Those elected will hold office for five years.

The political editor of the government-run English bi-weekly, Rwanda Times, Mr Safari Gaspard, said the elections were unique not only because they were the first of their kind in the country since independence, but also because they tested the political maturity of the Rwandese people.

"It was an opportunity for us to prove that the past six years of sensitisation have enabled us to drop political sentiments, trivialities and non-issues in favour of what the country has lacked for decades systematic developmental ideas devoid of political bickering and rhetoric," he said.

Those eligible to vote had to be of Rwandese nationality, aged 18 and above, and foreigners who had lived in Rwanda for a year and had a residence permit. To be eligible for election, one must be at least 21 years of age, a Rwandese national, a registered voter and a "person of integrity."

Those serving sentences for murder, assassination or crimes of genocide; or who had served a prison term of more than six months within the five years before the elections were not eligible to vote. Others excluded were prisoners, defilers and "those who spread divisive ideas."

Government officials meanwhile said the increasing numbers of refugees returning to the country was evidence of improving peace and security, and belief in the future stability and democratisation of the country. 

A press release last week from the President's Office said a total of 21,878 refugees returned to Rwanda in the first five weeks of the year, mainly from Tanzania and North and South Kivu in Congo. 

Many of them fled the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people died following President Juvenal Habyarimana's assassination.