Incumbent President Paul Kagame said this evening his overwhelming victory in a presidential poll showed Rwanda was on the right path, nine years after his forces swept to power in a country still haunted by its genocide.
Official results showed Kagame won 95 per cent of the vote in the first presidential election since an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a 1994 genocide.
"The electoral commission is pleased to announce Paul Kagame is the winner of this election," Election Commission President Chrysologue Karangwa told a news conference this evening to announce the result, which still has to be ratified by the supreme court.
The main opposition candidate, Mr Faustin Twagiramungu, had earlier rejected partial results pointing to a landslide win for Mr Kagame in polls regarded as a test of democracy in the tiny central African country.
Provisional results released by the election commission showed Mr Twagiramungu won 3.62 per cent and a third candidate, Mr Jean Nepomuscene Nayinzira, had 1.33 per cent.
Both Mr Twagiramungu and Mr Nayinzira have said their supporters have been harassed by Kagame's agents and voters were intimidated into choosing him.
"I do not accept this election... That's not democracy. They are trying to have a Stalinist style one-party system. Almost 100 per cent? That's not possible. I will write a letter to the Supreme Court," Mr Twagiramungu said in response to partial results broadcast on state radio before the final results were declared. Police say they are probing all complaints of harassment that they have received but have not found any evidence so far of such action by Mr Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
Mr Kagame denies harassment and says Mr Twagiramungu has used ethnic propaganda to win votes. Mr Twagiramungu denies that charge.