KIGALI, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan presidential candidate, the incumbent President Paul Kagame is leading by about 98 percent of the initial results of the presidential elections held on Friday, Rwanda's National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced.
NEC announced the results of 20 percent of cast votes late Friday.
Kagame, who is seeking the third term, won 98.75 percent of the results announced. Independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana comes second with 0.73 percent of the votes, and Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda won 0.27 percent.
Initial results in some districts show that Kagame is leading with over 99 percent of the votes.
Nearly 6.9 million voters are expected to cast their votes, among which 54 percent are women, according to NEC.
More than 2,300 polling sites comprising nearly 17,000 polling stations were open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Rwandans in the diaspora cast their votes on Thursday, where 98 polling stations were set up for around 44,000 voters.
This year's presidential election will be the third since the end of the ex-genocidal regime in 1994.
Kagame, 59, has been president since 2000 when he was elected by ministers and members of parliament following the resignation of then President Pasteur Bizimungu.
He was then reelected in the presidential elections in 2003 and 2010 by winning 95 percent and 93 percent of the total votes respectively.
Rwanda has been recovering since the genocide and has now been considered a model for developing countries, especially for African countries.
