Polls closed in another quiet Rwanda election, as Kagame seeks fourth term

President Paul Kagame. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

• Polling stations in Rwanda opened at 7:00 and closed at 15:00, with results announcement set to start from 22:00.
• From 20 July to 27 July, those disputing the elections can lodge their complaints at the courts.
• President Paul Kagame previously won 99% of the vote.

Polling stations across Rwanda opened at 07:00 and closed at 15:00 in what was another quiet election for Rwanda, with no major upset expected.

Results of the presidential and parliamentary votes will start to become available from 22:00, National Electoral Commission (NEC) chairperson Oda Gasinzigwa told News24.

“We are going to start with the president. Even at the polling stations, the first to be voted is the president then parliamentarians. The results will be announced in that sequence too.

“The preliminary results will be announced before 20 July. The final results are expected by the 27th,” she said. This allows a window period closes for anyone wishing to dispute the results to approach the courts. 

Those are incumbent Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, who was up against challengers Frank Habineza, of the Democratic Green Party, and independent Philippe Mpayimana.

The three men were also in the same race in 2017 when Kagame secured a 99% victory.

READ | Kagame talks about fourth term, retirement and succession ahead of polls

Rwandans living abroad cast their votes the day before in 140 polling stations in 70 countries.

Prisons and hospitals across the country had polling stations where convicts and hospital patients were accorded a chance to vote.

There were more than 9 million registered voters expected to cast their ballots in an eight-hour polling day.

Gasinzigwa said the 2 233 polling stations were enough for voters to cast their ballots on time.

“Most of our people live in villages. We made sure where we put our polling stations is near communities to make sure they don’t go very far to vote,” she said.

In Rwanda. there’s no voter registration for elections: once a person is issued a national identity card, they are automatically on the voters’ roll.

Kagame and his wife Jeannette cast their votes at Gacuriro Technical Secondary School in the capital Kigali. 

Shortly after the president and first lady cast their votes, son-in-law Bertrand Ndengeyingoma and first daughter Ange cast their votes at the same station.

READ | Kagame celebrates military’s role in Rwandan society, and steps back from pre-emptive DRC approach

Another member of the first family seen by reporters at the same polling station was Captain Ian Kagame, who serves in the Rwandan Defence Force.

Opposition presidential candidate Mpayimana cast his vote at Camp Kigali military school. During his three-week campaign, he hardly had an audience at his rallies.

However, he told journalists that he was confident of staging an upset.

“Let me tell you that winning the elections is without a doubt,” he said in the local Kinyarwanda language.

Frank Habineza voted at Kimironko 2 Primary School in Gasabo, also in Kigali, accompanied by his wife. He told journalists that he was eyeing at least 20 parliamentary seats.

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