KIGALI, July 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame won a crushing election victory that will extend his rule by another five years, according to partial results issued on Monday.
De facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, Kagame scored 99.15 percent of the vote, the National Election Commission announced after 79 percent of ballots had been counted.
It tops the 98.79 percent Kagame won in the last election in 2017 and is streets ahead of the vote garnered by the only two candidates authorised to run against him.
Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Habineza was given 0.53 percent of the vote and independent Philippe Mpayimana 0.32 percent.
The outcome of Monday’s poll was never in doubt, with Kagame accused of muzzling the opposition and several prominent critics barred from the race.
People stood in line patiently starting at 7 a.m. local time Monday to cast their ballots, saying they were excited to exercise their civic duty. Some said they wanted a leader who could deliver what the population desired. Others said they’d seen progress and would vote for that to continue.
Kagame cast his vote around 1:30 p.m. at a voting center in Kigali. He had said that his priorities of building the country toward prosperity would not change.
This was the second bid for the top job by Mpayimana, a journalist-turned-politician whose manifesto initiatives to develop agriculture, transportation, fishing and other industries received coverage in 50-plus articles.
Habineza, who also ran against Kagame in the last election, said he was in the race again this year because the incumbent has been in office too long and it was time for a new vision for the country.
Several other candidates, including some of Kagame’s most vocal critics, were barred from running for president.
About 9 million out of a population of 14 million Rwandans were registered to vote. That was 2 million more than last time, according to the National Electoral Commission.
NEC Chairwoman Oda Gasinzigwa said that more than 300 international observers were present in Rwanda, along with about 700 local observers.
One reason Kagame, 66, cruised to victory, critics said, was that he has governed with a heavy hand and has stifled dissent. But another reason, analysts said, was his ability to guide the East African country toward internal peace since the 1994 genocide, when an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. — NNN-AGENCIES
