Rwanda's all-powerful President Paul Kagame is to be sworn in on Sunday for another five years after sweeping to victory in elections last month with more than 99 percent of the vote. A number of African leaders are to attend the inauguration at a 45,000-seat stadium in Kigali where crowds started gathering from the early morning. The outcome of the July 15 poll was never in doubt for the iron-fisted Kagame, who has ruled the small African nation since the 1994 genocide, as de facto leader and then president.
He won 99.18 percent of ballots cast to secure a fourth term in power, according to the National Electoral Commission said. Rights activists said the 66-year-old's overwhelming victory was a stark reminder of the lack of democracy in Rwanda.
Only two candidates were authorised to run against him out of eight applicants, with several prominent Kagame critics barred. Democratic Green Party leader Frank Habineza scraped into second place with 0.5 percent of the vote against 0.
32 percent for independent Philippe Mpayimana. The inauguration is due to start at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), according to state media. Kagame is credited with rebuilding a ruined nation after the genocide, when Hutu extremists unleashed 100 days of vicious bloodletting targeting the Tutsi minority, killing around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis but also Hutu moderates.
But rights activists and opponents say he rules in a climate of fear, crushing any dissent with intimidation, arbitrary detentions, killings an.