Rwanda's Kagame on course for predictable landslide win

Aug 10, 2010, 6:58 GMT

Nairobi/Kigali - Rwandan President Paul Kagame is heading for a landslide victory in a poll marred by accusations of political repression, partial results released Tuesday showed.

Results from 11 out of 30 districts gave Kagame just over 1.6 million votes, around 93 per cent of the ballots counted so far, the National Electoral Commission said.

After the preliminary figures were released early Tuesday, Kagame joined thousands of supporters celebrating the win at the Amaharo Stadium in the capital Kigali.

'An RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) win is victory for Rwanda. For all Rwandans,' the Rwanda News Agency quoted him as telling the cheering crowd.

Final results should be out on Wednesday, although they could come as late as August 17.

Just over five million Rwandans were registered to vote in the second presidential election since the 1994 genocide. Kagame won in 2003 with 95 per cent of the vote.

Kagame, 52, has run Rwanda since his Tutsi rebel group the RPF kicked out the Hutu militia that slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the genocide.

The small coffee-producing East African nation has blossomed under Kagame, becoming the most stable state in the region, posting economic growth averaging over 8 per cent in recent years.

Rwanda's leader is popular amongst many ordinary citizens, and his backers say that is why he is certain to be re-elected.

'I think it is due to his performance in the last seven years,' said Charles Murigande, education minister and one of Kagame's most-senior cabinet members. 'This is a country that is at peace, a country that is secure.'

But human rights groups and political opponents accuse the president of political repression.

Two of Kagame's opponents died in suspicious circumstances in the run-up to the elections - just the latest in a long line of events that have brought criticism upon the leader.

The deputy leader of the Democratic Green Party and a journalist who raised questions over Rwanda's involvement in the attempted killing of a former Rwandan army chief in South Africa were both murdered.

The government said the killings were common crime, but international human rights groups believe political motivations lay behind the deaths.

Opposition newspapers have also been closed down and journalists and political opponents arrested.

Kagame faced three other candidates in the election, but they all have close links to the ruling party and are generally supportive of its policies. Critics say these candidates were merely fronts for the RPF.

Opposition parties that openly criticized Kagame say they found their attempts to register and take part in the election blocked.

'This is a comedy, not an election, because the opposition is excluded,' Victoire Ingabire, head of the United Democratic Forces of Rwanda, said.

Ingabire was arrested earlier this year on charges of denying the genocide. Her US lawyer was also held when he came to defend her.

Kagame on Monday brushed off the criticism to claim the elections were democratic.

'The people of Rwanda were free to stand for election ... so I see no problem,' Arabic news channel Al Jazeera quoted him as saying after casting his vote.

The international community is happy to take Kagame's word for it.

Rwanda has benefited greatly from international aid money, including cash from the European Union.

This irks campaigning groups, who believe donor governments should be pressuring the leader to allow real political opposition rather than throwing money at his government.