Rwandan President Paul Kagame won 99% of the vote in provisional results from the presidential election on Monday July 15, 2024.
Kagame’s opponents, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana, collectively received under 1% of the vote in provisional results, which accounted for 79% of all ballots cast.
Today’s presidential election result extend Paul Kegame’s three-decade grip on power since the 1994 genocide in which at least a million people died in hundred days.
This electoral outcome did not surprise watchers of Rwandan democracy. In 2017, Kadame also took nearly 99% of the votes. The country is made up primarily of two ethnic groups – the Hutu’s and Tutsi’s.
Final results are expected by July 27, although they could be announced sooner. The 66-year-old Kagame ran virtually unopposed.
There were long lines at some polling stations in the capital, Kigali. Election authorities said 9.5 million Rwandans were registered to vote in the country’s population of 14 million.
Kagame has led the East African country since he seized power as the head of rebels who took control of the government and ended the genocide in 1994. He has been condemned by many as a violent authoritarian but praised by others for presiding over impressive growth in the three decades since the genocide.
Kagame is among African leaders who have prolonged their rule by pursuing changes to term limits. In 2015, Rwandans voted in a referendum to lift a two-term limit. Now, Kagame could stay in power until 2034.
Speaking to journalists as he cast his vote on Monday, Kagame pretended he is reluctant to stay in power, “The ruling party and Rwandans have been asking me to stand for another mandate. I can comfortably go home and rest”, the president said.
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