by Mohammed M. Mupenda
KIGALI, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- From early Friday morning, Rwandan voters queued at polling stations across the country for their turn to cast their ballots to elect the next president who will serve a seven-year term.
They want a president who would accomplish what was not done in previous years.
"The election is crucial," 98-year-old Suleiman Ntiruvuba told Xinhua after casting his ballot for Paul Kagame, the incumbent president, in Northern Province.
Kagame is a leader who has looked after the old people, Ntiruvuba said, expressing the hope that the leader of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) would build on past achievements and move the country further ahead.
Linda Kanyana, customer representative of an internet service company, said that she also voted for Kagame, who will maintain the security, peace, and development that the country has already achieved.
"I have voted for RPF, because it will maintain the security of the country, promote youth empowerment by creating more opportunities leading to jobs, and improve the health sector to the best level," Kanyana said.
Winnie Kazoora, a 20-year-old student in Northern Province, hopes that the elected president would keep what has been achieved with RPF and move other sectors such as information communications technology to even higher levels.
More than 2,300 polling sites, comprising nearly 17,000 polling booths, were open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.
About 6.9 million eligible voters cast their ballots this time around, up from 5.7 million in the 2010 presidential elections, according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
Preliminary results released by the NEC showed that Kagame collected 98.63 percent of the votes, winning a third term as president.
Independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana got 0.73 percent and Frank Habineza, candidate for the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, came last with 0.47 percent.
