Provisional election results show Rwanda's Kagame cruising to victory, an outcome that was expected

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — President Paul Kagame has won 99% of the vote in provisional results from Monday's presidential election in Rwanda, electoral authorities said, an outcome that was widely expected as the country's long-time ruler aims to extend this three-decade grip on power.

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.

Final results are expected by July 27, although they could be announced sooner.

The 66-year-old Kagame, who has held power since the end of the country's genocide in 1994, was running virtually unopposed. Two of his stronger critics were blocked from running for high office.

There were long lines at some polling stations in the capital, Kigali. Election authorities said 9.5 million Rwandans were registered to vote in the country's population of 14 million.

“This is going to be my first time to vote. I am voting for President Kagame because I have never seen a leader like him before,” said passenger motorcyclist Jean Claude Nkurunziza.

Kagame 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.

On Saturday he told journalists that his mandate comes from the people.

"The ruling party and Rwandans have been asking me to stand for another mandate," he said. ”At a personal level, I can comfortably go home and rest.”

Rwanda’s election took place amid heightened fears of insecurity in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Rebels known as M23 are fighting Congolese forces in a remote area of neighboring eastern Congo.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan forces are fighting alongside M23, United Nations experts said in a report circulated last week. The U.S. government has described the group as being backed by Rwanda.

Rwanda accuses Congo’s military of recruiting fighters who were among the perpetrators of the genocide.

Rights groups continue to raise alarm over harsh restrictions on human rights, including freedom of association, in Rwanda.

Amnesty International in a recent statement expressed concern over “threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution on trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances” targeting the political opposition. It said the suppression of dissenting voices, including among civic groups and the media, “has a chilling effect and limits the space for debate for people of Rwanda.”

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