According to Rwanda's National Electoral Commission, citizens will be in a position to cast their votes through online channels come 2017. The maiden move in the region is set to include all citizens in the Diaspora as well.

The e-voting system will first be launched in 2016 during the municipal elections for deployment in September 2017. This will have potential users receive different codes via email and mobile, registered voters will be required to log in to the electoral commission website within two or three hours of receiving the messages and input codes to vote.

In the past, online registration alone has been a tall order for citizens abroad with large countries such as Canada only having one embassy making it hard for diaspora to vote. Last year, only 38,000 Rwandans who live overseas were registered to vote in the parliamentary election but with the new system set to kick-off, the ICT crew behind the works hope for more numbers.

The body in charge National Electoral Commission has partnered Tigersoft to have the system ready ahead of time to provide efficient processes for both the team in charge as well as the voter who needs such a platform as user friendly as possible.

The time allowance ahead of 2017 will take care of technological risks of voting online with about three to four network servers ready as well as anti-virus software in place. Education will also come in handy for voters before 2017.