KIGALI, (Reuters) – Incum-bent Paul Kagame won 93 percent of the votes in Rwanda’s presidential election, final results showed yesterday, after a campaign that critics said was marred by government repression.
A grenade was thrown into a rush-hour crowd in the capital Kigali, wounding at least seven people. Analysts said the attack appeared to be aimed at producing a political crisis.
Kagame, widely lauded for rebuilding Rwanda and establishing peace in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, won the last election in 2003 by a similar margin. Yesterday’s results still have to be signed off by the Supreme Court.
“We are very happy with the conduct of the electoral process, from the campaign to the voting itself. We did not get reports of intimidation from anywhere,” said Charles Munyaneza, executive secretary of the electoral body.
Turnout for Monday’s election was more than 95 percent in all the nation’s five provinces.
Kagame’s nearest rival, Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo of the Social Democratic Party, won 5 percent. Prosper Higiro of the Liberal Party garnered just over 1 percent and Alvera Mukabaramba of the Party for Peace and Concord 0.4 percent.
