Paul Kagame has won another term as President of Rwanda. This marks his fourth consecutive term in office.
The Rwandan Electoral Commission announced that Mr. Kagame won 99.15% of the total votes cast, receiving 7,099,810 votes.
his election marks the fourth democratic poll in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, with Kagame having won every presidential election since then.
Kagame’s opponents — Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana — collectively received under 1% of the vote in provisional results, which accounted for 79% of all ballots cast.
The result mirrored the outcome in 2017, when Kagame took nearly 99% of the vote.
Final results are expected by July 27, although they could be announced sooner.
The 66-year-old Kagame, who has held power since the end of the country’s genocide in 1994, was running virtually unopposed.
There were long lines at some polling stations in the capital, Kigali. Election authorities said 9.5 million Rwandans were registered to vote in the country’s population of 14 million.
“This is going to be my first time to vote. I am voting for President Kagame because I have never seen a leader like him before,” said passenger motorcyclist Jean Claude Nkurunziza.
On Saturday he told journalists that his mandate comes from the people.
“The ruling party and Rwandans have been asking me to stand for another mandate,” he said. “At a personal level, I can comfortably go home and rest.”
Rwanda’s election took place amid heightened fears of insecurity in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Rebels known as M23 are fighting Congolese forces in a remote area of neighboring eastern Congo.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan forces are fighting alongside M23, United Nations experts said in a report circulated last week. The U.S. government has described the group as being backed by Rwanda.
Rwanda accuses Congo’s military of recruiting fighters who were among the perpetrators of the genocide.
Rights groups continue to raise alarm over harsh restrictions on human rights, including freedom of association, in Rwanda.
Amnesty International in a recent statement expressed concern over “threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution on trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances” targeting the political opposition. It said the suppression of dissenting voices, including among civic groups and the media, “has a chilling effect and limits the space for debate for people of Rwanda.
AP\MUKTV
