KIGALI, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Rwandan National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Saturday declared Paul Kagame as the winner of the presidential elections, citing provisional results.
Provisional results show that the incumbent president won 98.63 percent of the votes.
Kagame was followed by independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana with 0.73 percent. The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda's candidate, Frank Habineza, came last with 0.47 percent.
Diaspora's votes are not included in the results, according to the NEC.
Rwandan presidential elections kicked off Friday. The president for the next seven years is elected by universal suffrage in one uninominal round ballot.
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 re-elected in the 2003 and 2010 presidential elections by winning 95 percent and 93 percent of votes respectively.
Rwanda, which has been recovering since the 1994 genocide, is now considered a model for developing countries, especially African ones.
