Rwanda

About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
Parliament (Parlement)
Chamber name
Sénat (Senate)
Structure & Status of parliament This field is to indicate lower/upper in the back end.
Upper chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1971 to 1973
from 1982 to 1994
from 1995
IPU Geopolitical Group/s IPU Geopolitical Groups: African Group, Arab Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eurasia Group, Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), Twelve Plus Group.
African Group

Speaker

Official title The Speaker may for example be known as the Presiding Officer, President, Chairman/Chairperson, etc.
President of the Senate
Speaker
François-Xavier Kalinda (Male)
Year of birth
1962
Term
09.01.2023
Additional information
Elected on 9 Jan. 2023.
See historical data for this field.

Secretary General

Official title This post is most commonly called Secretary General or Clerk. It may also be called Secretary, Head/Chief of the Secretariat, Director General, etc.
Clerk of the Senate
Secretary General
Sosthène Cyitatire (Male)

Members

Statutory number of members Statutory number of members, as defined in the constitution or other fundamental law.
Principal mode of designation of members
Indirectly elected members Indirectly elected, for example by regional parliaments or an electoral college.
18
Appointed members Appointed, for example, by the Head of State.
8
Note on the statutory number of members
Indirectly elected members: 
- 12 members (one from the City of Kigali, two from Northern Province, three each from Provinces of West, East and South) indirectly elected by members of the Executive Committees of Sectors and District, Municipality, Town or City Councils,
- Four members elected by the Forum of Political Organizations, 
- Two university lecturers indirectly elected by the academic and research staff of public and private universities and institutions of higher education. 
Appointed members: Eight members appointed by the President.

At least 30 per cent of members must be women. 
In addition, former Heads of State become members of the Senate upon their request.
See historical data for this field.
Current number of members Number of members who currently hold seats in parliament. May be lower or higher than the statutory number of members.
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
17
See historical data for this field.
Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
9
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
34.62% See historical data for this field.
Statutory number of members per country As defined in the constitution or other fundamental laws. Combines the number of parliamentarians in both chambers in bicameral parliaments.
Population (in thousands)
Click for historical data
See historical data for this field.

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 0 0 4 5 7 8 2 0 0
Total <= 45: 4 Total >= 46: 22
Male 0 0 0 1 2 4 8 2 0 0 17
Female 0 0 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 9
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger0%0%0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger0%0%0%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger15.38%3.85%11.54%
Members for whom data is available
26

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups Reserved seats are a means to ensure the parliamentary representation of certain groups in society.

Number of reserved seats, by group

Notes
At least 30% of the members must be women
Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
At least thirty per cent (30 %) of the Senators shall be women
Electoral quota for youth Quotas to promote the representation of youth in parliament.