East African president reelected with overwhelming majority
President Paul Kagame of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) has been reelected with 99.18% of the vote, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced on Thursday.
The 66-year-old president will extend his rule in the East African country, achieving an even larger margin of victory than in the previous presidential election seven years ago, in which he received 98.79% of the vote.
The NEC reported that Frank Habineza, the leader of the Democratic Green Party, secured just 0.5% of the vote, while independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana received 0.32%.
Both opponents ran in 2017, when they gained less than 1% of the vote between them. Eight other candidates, including some of Kagame’s most vocal critics, were disqualified from the election for various reasons, such as prior criminal convictions and missing or incomplete registration documents.
Over 9 million people, including 2 million first-time voters, were registered for the election. Securing 8.82 million votes, Kagame will extend his rule for another five years, after a 2015 constitutional amendment reduced the presidential term from seven years. During a news conference, Oda Gasinzigwa, the chairperson of the NEC, announced that voter turnout was 98.20%.
Kagame has been the official head of state since 2000, following his role as de-facto leader since 1994. In the last three elections – 2003, 2010, and 2017 – he garnered over 90% of the vote.
For the first time, the presidential race was held simultaneously with the legislative elections. The RPF is leading in the July 15 parliamentary elections, garnering over 68% of the votes, Gasinzigwa announced.
The Liberal Party has received 8.66% of the vote, the Social Democratic Party – 8.62%, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda – 4.56%, the Ideal Democratic Party – 4.61%, and PS-Imberakuri – 4.51%.
The final election results are scheduled to be announced by July 27. According to the NEC, more than 1,100 local and international observers were authorized to observe the elections.
The vote took place amid rising tensions with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group – a claim Rwanda denies.
The election also follows the collapse of an asylum seeker deportation deal with the UK, which was abandoned by the newly appointed prime minister, Keir Starmer, after the Labour Party’s victory on July 4.
