Kigali - Incumbent leader Paul Kagame has
swept to a landslide victory in Rwanda's presidential election,
results showed early on Saturday, securing a third term in
office and extending his 17 years in power.
Kagame has won international plaudits for presiding over a
peaceful and rapid economic recovery in the Central African
nation since the 1994 genocide, when an estimated 800 000 people
Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
But he has also faced mounting censure for what critics and
rights groups say are widespread human rights abuses, a muzzling
of independent media and suppression of political opposition.
With 80 percent of votes counted from Friday's election, the
59-year-old former guerrilla leader had secured 98.66 percent,
the National Electoral Commission's Executive secretary Charles
Munyaneza told a news conference.
"We expect that even if we get 100 percent of votes, there
will not be any change," he said.
The full count will be released at 1400 GMT on Saturday.
The board expects turnout to have topped 90 percent in the
East African country of 12 million people, in an election that
fielded only a single opposition candidate, Frank Habineza, and
an independent.
Kagame said he would work to sustain economic growth in the
tiny nation.
"This is another seven years to take care of issues that
affect Rwandans and ensure that we become real Rwandans who are
(economically) developing," he said in a speech broadcast live
on television.
Under his rule, some dissidents were killed after fleeing
abroad, in cases that remain unsolved. The government denies any
involvement.
Kagame, a commander who led Tutsi rebel forces into Rwanda
to end the 1994 genocide, banned the use of tribal terms after
becoming president.
He won the last election in 2010 with 93 percent of the vote
and had said during this campaign for a further seven-year term
that he again expected an outright victory.
Habineza, who has so far won 0.45 percent of the early
count, had promised to set up a tribunal to retry dissidents
whose convictions by Rwandan courts have been criticised as
politically motivated.
Another would-be opponent, Diane Rwigara, was disqualified
by the election board despite her insistence that she met all
the requirements to run.
Some voters celebrated the election result into the early
hours of Saturday, said John Habimana, owner of the popular
Roasty Bar in the capital Kigali.
"Last night was fantastic. People kept coming in until my
bar had more than 200 people. I usually get 100 on normal days.
They were all celebrating and I left at 2 am but they were still
dancing and more were coming," he said.
Other residents were less happy.
"To me I see this as a one-man race. I simply did not go to
vote," said one man in Kigali who asked not to be named.