Rwandan President Paul Kagame has won a record fourth term in the election, according to unofficial results released on Tuesday, African Media reported.
The chairman of Rwanda’s Electoral Commission, Chrysologue Karangwa, declared Kagame the winner after he received 7,099,810 votes, 99.15 per cent of the total 9,071,157 votes cast.
Kagame, 66, who represents the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), defeated his closest rivals Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party who got 38,301 votes (0.53 per cent) and Philippe Mpayimana who got 22,753 votes (0.32 per cent).
Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s eighth president, has held office since 2000. A Tutsi, he was a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a political-military organisation founded by Rwandan emigrants in Uganda in 1988 and comprising Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In 1990, the RPF, then effectively led by Kagame, crossed into Rwanda and launched an offensive against the Rwandan government.
The Arusha Accords signed in 1993 suspended hostilities, but as the genocide began in 1994, the RPF resumed its offensive. Soon after the front entered the capital Kigali in July, the genocide was brought to an end. The RPF became the country’s ruling party.
Rwanda formed a coalition government of Tutsis and Hutus; moderate Hutu Pasteur Bizimungu became president, with Kagame serving as vice president and defence minister. In the 2000 elections he became president – since then he has won at least 93% of the vote in every election. In 2017, his result reached 99 per cent.
During his 30 years in power, Kagame has stabilised the country: electricity has become more affordable, corruption has decreased, “the capital Kigali is no longer the ghost town it was during the genocide,” the country is positioning itself as a cultural and sporting centre.
