Rwanda votes...

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Updates from KigaliWire.com

60-75 voters in line in Kimihura, Kigali - Rwanda

Kigali residents were out in numbers this morning to vote in the 2010 Presidential election. Voting was scheduled to begin at 6am. I spotted a line of 60 – 75 voters at around 5:15amin in Kimihuru district. At 5:30am, I headed over to Nyamirambo with Reuters snapper Finbarr O’Reilly to try and gauge the voting day buzz. It was typically Rwandan – calm, quiet, orderly… kinda dull. White t-shirted polling day staff were briefed a little before 6am by which time lengthy lines, like the one above, had already formed.

 

[The Quonquerer]

Koba and Babukijana, what is your take on this?

 

[babu M]

Rwanda's Kagame set for landslide win - early results

Tuesday, August 10 06:49 am




Early results on Tuesday showed that Rwandan President Paul Kagame would win re-election by a landslide, after an election campaign that rights groups and opponents said was marred by repression and violence against critics.



Preliminary results from the National Electoral Commission
showed that in 11 out of a total 30 districts Kagame had won 1,610,422 votes out of 1,734,671 votes cast.

Kagame won the last election in 2003 -- the first since the 1994 genocide -- with 95 percent of the vote.

Analysts said the easy victory for Kagame indicated by the first results was unsurprising, partly because of the economic growth and stability he has delivered during his decade in power and also because of a crackdown on rivals and critics.

Kagame's three registered rivals are weak and linked closely to his ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), they said. Three would-be candidates accused the government of preventing them from registering to contest the election.

Though land-locked and poor in resources, Rwanda is a rising star in Africa for donors and investors and Kagame has been feted as a visionary leader and African icon.

(Reporting by Hereward Holland; editing by George Obulutsa and Tim Pearce)

 

[babu M]

Pamoja na safari za Muungwana na kuwaleta Brazil(kama walivyodai ni kuitangaza nchi) sijui kama uchaguzi wetu utapewa nafasi kwenye media za Europe na USA

 

[babukijana]

:amen:
Rwandan President Paul Kagame celebrated an overwhelming election victory by dancing with thousands of supporters into the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday, a day after voters gave their leader another seven years in office.

The country's election commission said preliminary results indicated Kagame would win more than 90% of Monday's vote.

Kagame won election in 2003 with 95% of the vote.

The win was expected. While Kagame faced three opponents on the ballot, analysts said none of the three presented any real competition. Opposition parties were barred from participating, part of a pre-poll crackdown that saw opposition figures arrested, a broad media clampdown and the suspicious killings or attempted killings of several people.

Tens of thousands of supporters celebrated Kagame's victory at the national sports stadium late on Monday and early on Tuesday. Kagame joined in the festivities, dancing on stage as bands belted out music. Preliminarily results were announced at about 4am local time.

Monday's presidential election was Rwanda's second since the 1994 genocide, when at least half a million people -- mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus -- were killed.

Much of the sharpest criticism has come from ethnic Hutus against Kagame's Tutsi-led government. One Hutu political leader, Victoire Inagbire, who was arrested earlier this year on charges of genocide ideology and not allowed to run, said that if Kagame's regime continues its repression, the country could spiral into chaos.

A former high-ranking member of Kagame's inner circle said on Monday the government plans and orders assassinations of political opponents, a charge the government denies. Former Rwandan external intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya, who has been living in exile in South Africa since 2008, said the West should not support "a dictator," a reference to Kagame.

Kagame has been credited with stabilizing Rwanda and for its post-genocide economic growth. Kagame has tried to downplay the role of ethnicity in post-genocide Rwanda, and people in the country rarely refer to themselves as Hutu or Tutsi and can face charges for speaking publicly about ethnicity.
In the United States, State Department spokesperson PJ Crowley said on Monday that the US was encouraged by what appeared to be a peaceful election.

"We have expressed concerns in the run-up to these elections regarding what appeared to be attempts by the government of Rwanda to limit freedom of expression, but we'll await the results of the elections before commenting further," Crowley said. - Sapa-AP :A S 39:

 

[The Quonquerer]

Koba and babukijana, are you ready to rumble? But at least they (Rwandans) haven't gone to the 'bush' this time!

 

[babukijana]

Koba and babukijana, are you ready to rumble? But at least they (Rwandans) haven't gone to the 'bush' this time!

some prepare to go to the bush soon.

 

[Bulesi]

some prepare to go to the bush soon.

If indeed they are prepering to go to the bush then more than likely the neighbouring countries that are jealous of Kagame's successes will be behind these heineous machinations!! Can anybody guess who those neighbours are?

 

[babukijana]

If indeed they are prepering to go to the bush then more than likely the neighbouring countries that are jealous of Kagame's successes will be behind these heineous machinations!! Can anybody guess who those neighbours are?

uganda of-course.

 

[The Quonquerer]

uganda of-course.

Kagame labda kwa assasination, kwa mkongoto Uganda haimuwezi, kule Kongo alishawashinda mara 2. Na rebels kumuweza Kagame ni kazi nzito!

 

[cerezo]

Babu Kijana,

For some reason known to you...you seem very quite now. Au umekubali matokeo...huyu jamaa anakubalika kwao...i think that he doesn't give a damn of what people say outside the borders...na kama jamaa anakubalika nyumbani then you have to give him his dues...90something percent? hiyo inaitwa landslide victory....any comment BK?

 

[MkamaP]

Babu Kijana,

For some reason known to you...you seem very quite now. Au umekubali matokeo...huyu jamaa anakubalika kwao...i think that he doesn't give a damn of what people say outside the borders...na kama jamaa anakubalika nyumbani then you have to give him his dues...90something percent? hiyo inaitwa landslide victory....any comment BK?

Matokeo ya % zaidi ya 90 huwa ndo yana uwalakini mkubwa.Mara nyingi madikteta hufanya kila njama ili waijioneshe ktk uso wa mataifa kwamba wanapendwa. Hata Saadam Husein alikua anapata hata zaidi ya 99% lakini bado alikua hapendwi kihivyo.