Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame secured a significant election victory, extending his rule by another five years, according to partial results released on Monday.
Kagame, who has been the de facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, received 99.15 percent of the vote, as announced by the National Election Commission after 79 percent of the ballots had been counted. This surpasses the 98.79 percent he achieved in the 2017 election and far exceeds the votes received by the two authorized candidates running against him.
Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Habineza garnered 0.53 percent of the vote, while independent Philippe Mpayimana received 0.32 percent. The outcome of Monday’s poll was widely expected, with Kagame accused of suppressing the opposition and barring several prominent critics from the race.
