PRESIDENT PAUL Kagame was expected to win a landslide victory yesterday in Rwanda’s second presidential election since the 1994 genocide.
Official results are not expected until Wednesday, but reports from several regions indicated that President Kagame had won between 98 and 100 per cent of the vote.
Voters lined up before polling stations opened at 6am, according to the police, with electoral commission officials putting voter turnout at close to 95 per cent. Over 5 million people were registered to take part, with polling closed at around 3pm.
The ballot paper had four candidates, but no one expected Mr Kagame to face much of a challenge. All three registered opposition parties are allies of his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) party.
Several independent newspapers were closed in recent months by the government-appointed media council.
During the election campaign, Mr Kagame shed his image as a firm and morose leader, joining in with dancers at political rallies and swapping a shirt and tie for a polo shirt with the RPF insignia.
Credited with bringing economic development and stability to Rwanda, the former army general has won international praise for rebuilding the country in the wake of the 1994 genocide, which left over 800,000 dead.
Critics say a series of attacks on outspoken opponents of President Kagame before the election has marred the vote, which has been held “in a context marked by increasing political repression and a crackdown on free speech” Human Rights Watch said.
The banned United Democratic Forces party, whose leader Victoire Ingabire was arrested in April and charged with promoting genocide ideology, asked the international community not to recognize the result unless opposition leaders were freed and an independent investigation was held into the deaths of André Kagwa Rwisereka, vice-president of the Green Democratic Party of Rwanda, and independent journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage.
Mr Kagame has denied any part in the killings. “You can’t accept that there will be any peace when there is no democracy,” said Jean Bosco Gasasira, an exiled journalist and senior editor of the local-language tabloid Umuvugizi.
“The whole system is in one man’s hands. Kagame is now justice, the media and the army. If you hijack the system, don’t expect the current stability to last.”