KIGALI, July 16, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame won a crushing election victory that will extend his iron-fisted rule by another five years, according to partial results issued on Monday.

De facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, Kagame scored 99.15 percent of the vote, the National Election Commission announced after 79 percent of ballots had been counted.

It tops the 98.79 percent Kagame won in the last election in 2017 and is streets ahead of the vote garnered by the only two candidates authorised to run against him.

Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Habineza was given 0.53 percent of the vote and independent Philippe Mpayimana 0.32 percent.

The outcome of Monday's poll was never in doubt, with Kagame accused of muzzling the opposition and several prominent critics barred from the race.