KIGALI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda National Electoral Commission (NEC) has set June as a deadline for receiving nomination applications from presidential candidates ahead of the polls scheduled in August.
The dates for nominating presidential candidates have been set from June 12 to 23, said NEC Executive Secretary Charles Munyaneza on Tuesday.
"We have kicked off the second phase of updating provisional voter registers and this will go up to the end of this month. We are calling upon eligible voters to cross check with local officials at their respective cells and villages to ensure that their names appear on the voter registration forms," said Munyaneza.
According to NEC, candidates are required to gather at least 600 signatures from 30 districts -- a minimum of 12 signatures in each district among others.
Rwanda will go to the polls for presidential elections on August 4 for its third time since the end of the ex-genocidal regime in 1994.
NEC had said that a provisional list of qualified candidates will be announced on June 27. The names of qualified candidates will be published on July 7, a week before campaigns start.
Campaigns for the qualified candidates will officially begin on July 14 and end on August 3, just a day before the elections.
It is estimated that about 6.8 million will participate in the election from 5.7 million who participated in 2010 presidential elections, according to the NEC.
