Paul Kagame, the incumbent president of Rwanda, has secured a decisive victory in Monday’s presidential election, winning 99.15 percent of the votes with 79 percent of ballots counted so far. The country’s electoral commission announced that 9.5 million Rwandans were registered to vote, out of a population of 14 million.
Kagame’s opponents, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana, each garnered less than one percent of the votes in the provisional results. This outcome mirrors the 2017 election, where Kagame also won nearly 99 percent of the votes.
The final election results are expected by July 27, though they could be announced sooner. Kagame, who has been in power since 1994, thanked Rwandans for their trust in an address at his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party headquarters in Kigali.
Despite facing criticism from rights groups and the West, Kagame has maintained that his mandate comes from the people of Rwanda and is not concerned with foreign opinions on his extended rule. The 64-year-old president can continue in office until 2034, following a 2015 constitutional amendment that removed the two-term limit.
