Nairobi/Kigali  - Rwandans went to the polls Monday to vote in parliamentary elections, with President Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) expected to stroll to victory.

The poll is the second parliamentary election since the 1994 massacre, when the Hutu militia and military massacred 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the space of a few months.

Tutsi-dominated forces led by Kagame ended the slaughter.

Some 53 seats are up for grabs on Monday, while 24 female MPs will be elected Tuesday by provincial and city councils.

Two youth MPs will be elected on Wednesday by the National Youth Council and on Thursday one disabled MP will be elected by associations for the disabled.

Rwanda has just under 5 million registered voters out of a population of 9 million.

The electoral commission says that provisional results are not expected until September 22, with final results to follow later.

A European Union observer mission with over 60 staff is present to monitor the polls. The EU has called for a "credible" election.

Presidential and parliamentary elections in 2003 - the first since a transitional government took power in 1994 - drew fire for being unfair.

Kagame won the presidency with over 95 per cent of the vote and an FPR-led coalition easily won the parliamentary elections.

However, opposition parties were banned until just before the elections and bodies such as Amnesty International said opposition politicians faced a campaign of "political pressure, violence and intimidation."

Kagame's supporters say he has helped Rwanda to stability and firm economic growth through reform, while opponents are critical of his authoritarian style. (dpa)