Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame has so far secured a majority vote in the Rwandan presidential elections. As reported by the BBC, Paul Kagame has received 99.15% of the votes thus far, with around 79% of ballots counted, according to initial results released by the election commission.
Both his opponents received less than one percent each. Frank Habineza an environmentalist and Philippe Mpayimana, a journalist and author received 0.53% and 0.32% respectively.
The provisional results will be announced on the 20th of July and the final ones by 27 July.
“These are not just figures, even if it was 100%, these are not just numbers. [They] show the trust, and that is what is most important,” the president said in a thank you speech to Rwandans at his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party headquarters.
On Monday, Rwandans trooped out to vote for their next head of state. The names presented at the polls were Rwandan Patriotic Front’s Paul Kagame, the Democratic Green Party’s Frank Habineza, and independent Philippe Mpayimana.
However, even before voting commenced, experts projected that Paul Kagame would secure an easy win. They noted that the current president faced no meaningful threat from a man who has in the last three elections secured more than 93% votes.
According to the chair of the National Electoral Commission, Oda Gasinzigwa, voter turnout was impressive as 98% of the 9 million registered voters came out to exercise their rights.
