Rwandan opposition candidate Frank Habineza has conceded defeat to incumbent President Paul Kagame in the recent presidential election.
Provisional results, by close of last night showed President Kagame leading with 99.15 percent of the total vote, securing his fourth term in office. Kagame, representing the RPF-Inkotanyi party, garnered 7,099,815 votes, while Habineza of the Democratic Green Party received 38,301 votes, accounting for 0.53 percent of the total.
“We accept the results and congratulate the winner, His Excellency Paul Kagame,” stated Habineza, who had earlier claimed he was leading with 55 percent of the vote.
Independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana trailed with 22,753 votes, making up 0.32 percent of the total votes.
According to Nile Post’s Canary Mugume in Kigali, nine million voters participated, with provisional results reflecting seven million votes counted between 3pm and 10pm.
“Voter turnout in the Rwandan elections stands at 98 percent. This implies almost every registered voter in Rwanda cast their ballot,” Mugume noted. “And almost every vote went to RPF-Inkotanyi candidate Paul Kagame.”
Kagame, who has consistently won elections since 2003 with more than 95 percent of the vote, extends his rule to nearly three decades. The same opponents, Mpayimana and Habineza, faced him in the 2017 election, where he won with 98 percent.
Diane Rwigara was controversially barred from running for the second time due to not meeting electoral commission requirements. Similarly, Victoire Ingabire was disqualified by the Kigali high court, which ruled her rehabilitation incomplete. Ingabire, arrested in 2010 upon returning from exile in Europe to run for president, was convicted of minimizing the Genocide against the Tutsi and sentenced to 15 years. Despite a presidential pardon in 2018, she remains under virtual house arrest.
Bernard Ntaganda was also barred from running, citing his past conviction and imprisonment in 2010 after attempting to run for the presidency.
Kagame came to power in July 1994 after leading the Rwandan Patriotic Army to end the ethnic cleansing of the minority Tutsi by the Hutu-dominated government of Juvenal Habyarimana. He is credited with revitalizing Rwanda’s economy post-genocide but faces criticism from Western governments for restricting democracy and freedom of expression. His administration argues that it must develop its own model of democracy rather than adopting Western templates.