(16 Jul 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4506225
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kigali, Rwanda - 15 July 2024
1. Rwandan President Paul Kagame arriving at at polling station
2. Kagame coming out of voting booth and putting vote paper in ballot box, as his wife, Jeannette Kagame, enters voting booth
3. Various of vote count
STORYLINE:
President Paul Kagame has won 99% of the vote in provisional results from Rwanda's presidential election, according to the country's electoral authorities.
Kagame’s opponents - Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana - were collectively getting under 1% of the vote in provisional results accounting for 79% of all ballots cast.
The result mirrored the outcome in 2017, when Kagame took nearly 99% of the vote.
Kagame, who has held power since the end of the country's genocide in 1994, was running virtually unopposed as two of his stronger critics were blocked from running for high office.
The outcome had been widely expected as the long-time ruler aims to extend this three-decade grip on power.
The 66-year-old president 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 was vice president and de facto leader from 1994 to 2000, when he became president.
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 in a referendum voted to lift a two-term limit.
Now Kagame could stay in power until 2034.
Final results are expected by July 27, although they could be announced sooner.
AP Video shot by Allan Atulinda and Jackson Njehia
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