Sawt Falasteen - Rwanda's Kagame re-elected with 99.18 percent of votes

The outcome of Monday's poll was never in doubt, with Kagame ruling the small African nation with an iron fist as de facto leader then president for three decades.

Garnering 8.82 million votes, the 66-year-old -- who will extend his rule by another five years -- won by an even greater margin than in the last presidential poll seven years ago, when he secured 98.79 percent.

Democratic Green Party leader Frank Habineza won just 0.5 percent in Monday's vote while independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana received 0.32 percent, according to figures from the National Electoral Commission.

The two men, who had also challenged Kagame in 2017, were the only two candidates approved to run this year after several opposition figures were barred.

Kagame is credited with rebuilding a shattered nation after the 1994 genocide, but is also accused of ruling in a climate of fear at home, and fomenting instability in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

He has won every presidential election he has contested with more than 93 percent of the ballot.

In 2015, Kagame oversaw controversial constitutional amendments that shortened presidential terms from seven to five years but reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, allowing him to potentially rule until 2034.

With 65 percent of the population aged under 30, Kagame is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known.

Over nine million Rwandans -- including two million first-time voters -- were registered to cast their ballot, with the presidential race being held simultaneously as legislative elections for the first time.

Definitive results are due to be released by July 27.

- Candidates barred -

Rwandan courts had rejected appeals from prominent opposition figures Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire to remove previous convictions that effectively disqualified them from Monday's vote.

The election commission also barred high-profile Kagame critic Diane Rwigara, citing issues with her paperwork -- the second time she was excluded from running.

Ahead of Monday's vote, Amnesty International said Rwanda's political opposition faced "severe restrictions... as well as threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution, trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances".

The imbalance between the candidates was evident during the three-week campaign, as the well-oiled PR machine of Kagame's RPF party swung into high gear.

His rivals struggled to make their voices heard, with barely 100 people showing up to some events.

- Meddling -

As leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) militia, Kagame captured Kigali in July 1994, ousting the Hutu extremists who had unleashed 100 days of bloodletting targeting the Tutsi minority.

The genocide perpetrators killed around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates.

Rwanda's GDP has grown by an average of 7.2 percent per year between 2012 and 2022, though the World Bank says almost half the population lives on less than $2.15 a day.

Kigali is accused of meddling in the troubled eastern DRC, where a UN report says its troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels.

Kagame has not explicitly denied the presence of Rwandan forces in DRC, but has made no bones about his willingness to take a "defensive" position to protect Kigali's interests.

R.Shaban--SF-PST