RWANDAN: Rwandan President Paul Kagame looked set for a sweeping victory in yesterday's landmark presidential poll, the first since the 1994 genocide that left over 500,000 people dead.
The soldier-turned-statesman was widely expected to achieve a massive victory over rival candidate, former prime minister Mr Faustin Twagiramungu.
The vote was peaceful but marred by some irregularities, underscoring earlier criticisms of a stiff crackdown on opposition apparently designed to ensure victory. Shops and businesses closed for the day as up to 80 per cent of Rwandans turned out to vote, marking their thumbprints on ballots carrying photos of the candidates.
In Cyangugu, a sleepy town overlooking Rwanda's western border with Congo, most had voted by lunchtime.
"Paul Kagame - he is the one who brought peace. I would vote for him five or ten times if I could," said Mr Jean Zirakana, moments after voting for the wiry, stern-faced leader.
Western electoral observers said polling was orderly and efficient but marred by harassment of opposition supporters by government election officials.
In Cyangugu, a man who gave his name as Felicien said he wanted to elect Mr Twagiramungu. But he said that after marking his choice, hovering Kagame officials snatched the ballot back. "They said I had wasted my vote and gave me a second ballot. When I voted for Kagame, they accepted," he said.
There were no opposition polling agents at the station, he added. Three days ago the government arrested 12 senior campaign officials for ethnic "divisionism", a charge also levelled at Mr Twagiramungu himself.
After casting his vote yesterday the opposition leader - who earlier said he feared arrest after the poll - sounded a conciliatory note, saying the election was "a very positive development".
"I will applaud the winner," he said.
But if the poll does bring victory for Mr Kagame - his team announced a victory party last night, hours before the first results - it has damaged his reputation abroad and stoked tensions at home.
When he assumed the presidency in 2000 - after six years of effective back-room rule - Mr Kagame promised to lead Rwanda from military to democratic rule. But with evidence of intimidation and imprisonment, yesterday's poll appeared to have limited legitimacy.
Others said it was an achievement that the election took place at all, only nine years after the genocide that left over 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.
The genocide shaped modern Rwanda and Mr Kagame's career. After over 30 years of exile in Uganda, he returned in 1994 at the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebellion which ended the slaughter.
The thin, sober officer was seen as a brilliant leader who had forged a fragmented rebellion into a fearsome fighting force. As Rwanda's effective leader, he brought security and economic growth and promoted ethnic reconciliation.
Western countries, guilty at having failed to stop the genocide, poured in millions of euros in aid. Over 100,000 Hutu extremists were imprisoned for their part in the massacres - four fifths are still awaiting trial - and thousands more fled into the forests of eastern Congo.
If Mr Kagame was widely seen as Rwanda's post-genocide saviour, his reputation was first sullied after the start of the 1998 Congo war. The Rwandan invasion triggered a crisis that engulfed central Africa, triggering a spate of local conflicts and causing over three million civilians deaths.
Western discomfort over the Rwandan occupation led to intense pressure on Mr Kagame to pull his troops out last year.
At home, Mr Kagame has stressed the separation of ethnicity from political power. But while Hutus hold some powerful positions, Mr Kagame and a small clique of Tutsis have retained their grip on power.