Presidential Election: Over 96% voter turnout recorded

The 2017 presidential polls had a total voter turnout of over 96 per cent, according to tally results from the National Electoral Commission. More than 6.6 million Rwandans voted in the just concluded presidential elections. In the last election in 2010, there slightly over 5 million voters. This year’s polls also had about 1.7 million first-time voters. The commission concluded tallying the polls results from the Diaspora as well as all the 30 districts, yesterday evening. During a news conference yesterday, the electoral commission chairperson and executive secretary announced the final provisional results. The incumbent, President Paul Kagame, won with 98.63 per cent of the vote after 6,650,722 Rwandans cast their ballots in his favour. Independent Candidate Phillippe Mpayimana garnered came second with 49,117 votes (0.73 per cent) while the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda candidate Frank Habineza trailed with 31,633 votes (0.47 per cent). According to the law, NEC has up to seven days to officially announce the final results. The period provides for reviewing the elections results for any inaccuracies or establish details such as the number of spoilt votes. The NEC Executive Secretary, Charles Munyaneza, said that the commission will not take the 7 days and are likely to make the official announcement by August 8. Munyaneza said that they have not received any complaints from any of the candidates in regards to the elections process or the results. He noted that some of the election observers the commission had met earlier, lauded the organization of elections, calmness, security as well as the voter turnout. Munyaneza added that the commission was satisfied with the election process as well as the conduct of candidates during campaigns and elections.

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Presidential Election: Over 96% voter turnout recorded