Rwandans Head to Polls in Presidential Election

Monday is voting day for Rwandans in a presidential contest expected to prolong the long rule of President Paul Kagame, who has been in charge since 1994. With long lines formed at some polling places, some capital voters, Kigali, arrived as early as five in the morning and waited for polls to open.

This will be my first time casting a ballot. Passenger motorcyclist Jean Claude Nkurunziza remarked, “I am voting for President Kagame since I have never seen a leader like him before.”

From a population of 14 million, election officials estimate that 9.5 million Rwandans are registered to vote. Later Monday, provisional findings are expected.

The result is expected to be in favor of Kagame, an authoritarian leader running essentially without opposition. Both Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana battled to draw supporters during their campaigns. When Kagame took almost 99% of the vote in 2017, he was up against the same rivals.

On Monday Habineza told the Associated Press his party “has improved and we are confident we will perform very well this time.”

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Since he took over as head of rebels who stopped the slaughter in 1994, 66-year- Kagame has guided the little East African nation. From 1994 to 2000, he was Rwanda’s vice president and essentially ruler following his first election. Although many criticize him as a brutal authoritarian, others applaud him for overseeing remarkable three-decade development after the genocide.

Among the African presidents who have extended their tenure by advocating term restrictions is Kagame. By voting in a referendum to remove a two-term restriction in 2015, Rwandans let Kagame remain in office until 2034.

On Saturday, Kagame told reporters that the people define his mandate.