Kagame polls 93.08% - NEC

KIGALI - Incumbent President Paul Kagame won the Monday election with 93.08 percent of the total votes cast, according to the overall provisional results released yesterday by the National Electoral (NEC) Commission. Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) came a distant second with 5.15 percent, while Liberal Party’s Prosper Higiro managed 1.37 percent, with Alvera Mukabaramba of the Party for Progress and Concorde (PPC), receiving just 0.4 percent of the votes cast. Announcing the results at the NEC head office, the Commission Executive Secretary, Charles Munyaneza, said that of the 5,178,492 registered voters, 5,049,302 cast their votes, representing a 97.51percent turnout. Kagame, who is also the chairman of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), received 4,638,560 votes, Ntawukuriryayo was voted by 256,488 people (5.15%), Higiro 68,235 (1.37%) and Mukabaramba 20,107 votes. In terms of percentages, Kagame received most support from the Diaspora community, with a staggering 96.8 percent, while the Western Province registered the least support with a 92.5 percent. Ntawukuriryayo registered his highest percentage score in the Western Province with a 6.07 percent, and his least in the Diaspora with 1.4percent. Higiro’s best performance came from the Southern Province where he received 1.73 percent support, while his worst performance was in the Diaspora where he got only 1 percent. Mukabaramba performed better in Kigali City and in the Diaspora where she recorded a 0.8 percent support each, while the Southern Province represented her most dismal performance, with 0.27percent. NEC Chairman, Prof. Chrysologue Karangwa, said yesterday’s results were still provisional, for at least after 24 hours. “As it is provided by the law, if there is any candidate who is not satisfied with the result and would like to petition the Supreme court, he or she can do it in not more than 24 hours from now. In that case the Electoral Commission will have to wait for the final decision of the court,” said Karangwa. Ends