Kagame on one of his campaign rallies
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has won a third term in office with a landslide of around 98 per cent of votes, according to partial results released by the electoral commission Saturday.
With 80 per cent of results counted, Kagame had secured some 5.4 million votes, far more than the 50 per cent plus one required for him to win re-election.
The commission estimates 97 per cent of 6.9 million voters turned out to cast their ballots.
“We think that at this level tomorrow it will be the same result, no change after having counted 100 per cent (of votes),” said national elections commission chairman Kalisa Mbanda.
Of the results tallied, Kagame had 98.66 per cent, while his two little-known rivals barely made a dent.
Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party — the only permitted critical opposition party — won 0.45 per cent of votes and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana scored 0.72.
