97% of Rwandans in uganda vote for RPF

KAMPALA - The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) overwhelmingly clinched victory Monday night among voters resident in Uganda. According to statistics obtained from the Embassy, of the 1,300 votes cast the RPF obtained 1,266 votes, Liberal Party 10 votes, Social Democratic Party 10 while Jean Marie Vianney Harerimana got 14 votes.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Amb. Ignatius Kamali Karegyesa before casting his vote on Monday.

KAMPALA - The Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) overwhelmingly clinched victory Monday night among voters resident in Uganda.

According to statistics obtained from the Embassy, of the 1,300 votes cast the RPF obtained 1,266 votes, Liberal Party 10 votes, Social Democratic Party 10 while Jean Marie Vianney Harerimana got 14 votes.

"I am very excited about the results. At least I did not waste my time to come and vote. Yesterday I had to come to the Embassy very early in the morning before I went to work. I hope my party also wins the elections in Rwanda,” Francis Kamanzi, an RPF supporter living in Uganda said in an interview with The New Times.

He added, "Even if I don’t live in Rwanda, I am aware of the developments taking place there as a result of the RPF. At least now I know I have a home. All because of the front.”

The counting exercise took place at the Rwandan Embassy on Kitante Road in Kampala immediately after the official voting exercise closed at 6 pm.

"The response was good and people participated in the voting exercise willingly as citizens. Rwandans in the Diaspora also want to make a contribution to the democratic process that is going on in their country,” Ignatius Kamali Karegyesa, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Uganda told The New Times. He added that the same voting exercise had been carried out in all Rwandan foreign missions. 

By yesterday afternoon, poll results had already been dispatched to the National Electoral Commission in Kigali for the National computing exercise. A total of 3,903 voters who are Rwandans living in Uganda had registered for the voting exercise.

Ends