Rwanda's Kagame cruises to crushing election victory: partial results

KIGALI - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has scored a crushing election victory that will extend his iron-fisted rule by another five years, according to Monday's partial results.

De facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, Kagame scored 99.15 percent of the vote, the National Election Commission announced after 79 percent of ballots had been counted.

It tops the 98.79 percent Kagame won in the last election in 2017 and puts him streets ahead of the only two candidates authorised to run against him.

Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Habineza scraped 0.53 percent of the vote and independent Philippe Mpayimana 0.32 percent.

Soon after the partial results were announced, giving Kagame a fourth term, he thanked Rwandans in an address from the headquarters of his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

"The results that have been presented indicate a very high score, these are not just figures, even if it was 100 percent, these are not just numbers," he said. 

"These figures show the trust, and that is what is most important," he added. "I am hopeful that together we can solve all problems."

Full provisional results are due by July 20 and definitive results by July 27.

With 65 percent of the population aged under 30, Kagame is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known. 

Over nine million Rwandans -- about two million first-time voters --  were registered to cast their ballot, with the presidential race being held at the same time as legislative elections for the first time.