Rwanda President Kagame wins election with 93% of vote

Rwandan President Paul Kagame won Monday's presidential election with 93% of the vote, the country's electoral commission has announced.

The full provisional result secures a second seven-year term for Mr Kagame and his party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

Supporters began celebrating on Monday after early results had shown the president winning 92.9% of the ballot.

Turnout for the election, the second since the 1994 genocide, was 97.5%.

Election observers from the Commonwealth noted "a lack of critical opposition voices" during the campaign.

Mr Kagame's nearest rival, Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo of the Social Democratic Party, polled just 5.15% of the vote.

In third place was the Liberal Party's Prosper Higiro, who won only 1.37%.

But the Commonwealth observers agreed that voting had been peaceful.

And as he announced the full provisional results on Wednesday, Charles Munyaneza, the electoral commission's executive secretary, said the commission had not received any reports of voter intimidation.

Mr Kagame's supporters say he has brought stability and growth since the genocide but critics accuse him of suppressing opposition.

All three of his rivals in this election have links to the president's Tutsi-dominated RPF.

But as he cast his vote in Kigali on Monday, Mr Kagame said he saw no problem with the way the vote had been conducted.

"When I have seen how they have expressed themselves, the people of Rwanda... it has given the impression to me that the process has been very democratic," he said.