President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame is set to rule the Central African country for another five years as he has won most of the votes counted from Monday’s election in partial results announced.
Partial results announced by the electoral commission show that he polled 99.15% of the vote so far, with about 79% of ballots counted.
His two opponents shared less than 1% of the vote.
President Kagame, a former military officer, thanked citizens for their trust in an address at his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party headquarters.
“These are not just figures, even if it was 100%, these are not just numbers. [They] show the trust, and that is what is most important,” Kagame said.
His opponents, environmentalist Frank Habineza and journalist cum author Philippe Mpayimana trailed behind him with 0.53% and 0.32% of the votes respectively.
The full provisional results will be due by 20th, July and final ones on the 27th of July.
The election results springs no surprise as it is a reflection of the 2017 election’s outcome with the same candidates participating and which Kagame won with 98.8% of the vote.
In this election, the 66-year-old leader did not face any meaningful opposition as leading figures who would have posed a threat to him were banned from contesting.
At least three aspirants were disqualified from running, including the outspoken Diane Rwigara, a critic of Kagame.
The electoral commission says 98% of the more than 9.5 million eligible voters took part in the elections.
The exercise was to elect a president and 53 lawmakers.
Kagame has been the de-facto leader of Rwanda since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000.
Rights groups accuse h
Rwandan President Paul Kagame (C) waves at supporters during a Rwanda Patriotic Front (FPR) kick-off rally, in Musanze.
im of curtailing freedoms since taking office, while his supporters say he had presided over economic growth and helped end ethnic divisions.
Source: BBC News
