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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Kagame poised for another term as Rwanda polls close |
| 2017-08-05 |
| [Al Jazeera] Rwandan President Paul Kagame looked set for a landslide victory as election results trickling in showed the incumbent with an average 98 percent of the vote in districts counted. The electoral commission released 40 percent of results late on Friday, in which Kagame led his two little-known opponents with a whopping 99.38 percent. The 59-year-old is expected to easily win a third seven-year term at the helm of the east African nation which he has ruled with an iron fist since the end of the 1994 genocide. Voting closed at 13:00 GMT on Friday, but many Rwandans who had queued up before the deadline were also allowed to cast their ballots, Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from Kigali, said. Kagame has wielded wide-ranging powers since the end of the genocide and became president in 2000. About seven million people were registered to vote in the polls to pick a president who will lead the country for the next seven years. According to the Rwanda Electoral Commission, more than 80 percent of registered voters cast their ballots. |
| Posted by:Fred |