Indirect parliamentary elections were held in Rwanda in 1954.
Electoral system edit
The Decree of 14 July 1952 by the Belgian authorities introduced an element of democracy to the Rwandan political system. A complicated electoral system was created, which involved seven stages of elections to eventually elect the national Superior Council (French: Conseil Superieur du Pays).[1]
| Council | Elected members | Ex officio members | Other members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-Chiefdom Council | 5–10 members elected by 10–18 notables | Sub-chiefs | |
| Chiefdom Council | 10–18 members, 5–9 elected by sub-chiefs and 5–9 elected by notables | Chiefs | |
| Territorial Council | Sub-chiefs elected from amongst their own and notables elected by Chiefdom Councils | Chiefs | |
| Superior Council | 6 chiefs elected from their own number, 9 notables elected by Territorial Councils | King, presidents of the Territorial Councils | Up to 8 co-opted |
Results edit
The elections in the sub-chiefdoms and chiefdoms were held in 1953, with the elections to the Territorial Councils and the Superior Council following in 1954.[2]
| Council | Members | Votes cast | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hutus | Tutsis | Total | Hutu | Tutsi | Twa | Total | ||||||
| Elected chiefs |
Elected notables |
Co-opted | Elected chiefs |
Elected notables |
Ex officio | Co-opted | ||||||
| Sub-chiefdom councils | 0 | 1,995 | 0 | 0 | 1,562 | 628 | 0 | 4,187 | 7,674 | 5,442 | 29 | 13,485 |
| Chiefdom councils | 1 | 78 | 0 | 299 | 268 | 46 | 0 | 692 | 79 | 613 | 0 | 692 |
| Territorial councils | 0 | 19 | 0 | 56 | 83 | 46 | 0 | 204 | 19 | 185 | 0 | 204 |
| Superior Council | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 33 | 3 | 29 | 0 | 32 |
| Source: Sternberger et al. | ||||||||||||
References edit
- ^ Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen & Klaus Landfried (1978) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Zweiter Halbband, p1699
- ^ Sternberger et al, p1725