Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s crushing election victory has been confirmed in final results, although his ruling party saw its representation in parliament reduced.
Issued on: 23/07/2024 – 12:34
1 min
Kagame won 99.18 percent of the total ballots cast, the National Electoral Commission said in a statement late Monday, giving him another five years in power in the small East African country.
On social media, Rwanda’s leader thanked his international supporters for their congratulations.
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The outcome of the 15 July poll was never in doubt for the iron-fisted Kagame, who has ruled the small African nation as de facto leader and then president since the 1994 genocide.
Only two candidates were authorised to run against him in the presidential race out of a total eight applicants, with several prominent Kagame critics barred.
Democratic Green Party leader Frank Habineza won 0.5 percent against 0.32 percent for independent Philippe Mpayimana.
Opponent Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza wasn’t allow to take part in the polls as a candidate.
In the parliamentary elections, the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and its allies secured 37 of the 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies which are elected by direct suffrage.
This is down from 40 in the former parliament.
Habineza’s party retained two seats, while the remainder were won by RPF allies.
Twenty-four seats in the 80-member chamber are reserved for women, two for youth and one for people with disabilities, voted by indirect elections.
Human rights defenders criticised the Soviet-like score though, like the former head of Human Rights Watch and professor at Princeton SPIA, Kenneth Roth, who wrote on social media that Kagame wouldn’t allow any “serious political opponent” as he was “afraid of the free judgment of his people.”
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(with AFP)
Source link : https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20240723-final-results-confirm-paul-kagame-s-landslide-victory-in-rwanda-s-presidential-election
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Publish date : 2024-07-23 10:34:16
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