Paul Kagame wins presidential polls with over 98% of the vote

President Paul Kagame has won Rwanda’s election by a landslide, granting him a third term in office and extending his 17-year rule over the central African nation.

The 59-year-old Kagame has ruled over Rwanda in various capacities since 1994 when his rebel group ended the genocide that killed 800,000 people, many of them from the Tutsi minority group.

Kagame first served as defense minister, then as vice president, before ascending to the top post in 2000 when his predecessor resigned. In 2003, he was officially elected to office under the auspices of a new constitution and was re-elected in 2010 for a seven-year term.

Kagame won 98.6 per cent of the votes, with rival Frank Habineza winning 0.45 per cent and the independent candidate Phillipe Mpayimana winning 0.72 per cent of the votes, according to the electoral commission head, Kalisa Mbanda on Friday night.

As at Friday evening when 40 per cent of the votes were accounted for, Kagame was in the lead with over 99 per cents of the votes, sweeping all the country’s 30 districts.

This result is not different from what Kagame secured in the 2003 and 2010 polls after he became president in 2000 following the resignation of his predecessor Pasteur Bizimungu.

The national electoral commission said Kagame had won over 98% of the vote. Frank Habineza of the opposition Democratic Green Party won 0.45% of the votes, while independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana secured 0.72%.