Rwandans in 'festive mood': ‘Election Day similar to wedding day’
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00:00Polling stations closed at 3pm local time and as you can see behind me,
00:04the polling station that I'm at is starting to empty out.
00:09There were a huge amount of people at this polling station today.
00:129 million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots in this year's election.
00:19High turnout as usual in Rwanda.
00:21In 2017, 98% of the population cast their ballots.
00:27Now a lot of the people that I've been speaking to today were in an incredibly festive mood.
00:32A lot of them said that election day in Rwanda is similar to a wedding day.
00:37A lot of them were wearing their best clothes, there was music playing all day.
00:41So it was definitely a very festive atmosphere here and that could be explained
00:46by the fact that there's little doubt over who will win this year's election.
00:50Paul Kagame won the previous elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017 with more than 93% of the vote
01:00and observers are expecting similar results this year.
01:04Now at this polling station there were also a lot of young people.
01:08More than 50% of the electorate is under the age of 30 this year.
01:13Paul Kagame has been in power for 24 years so for a lot of these young voters,
01:18he's the only leader they've ever known.
01:20So I spoke to a lot of those young voters here today.
01:24They told me that one of their main concerns is unemployment which is still high,
01:28especially among the youth. It currently stands at 16%.
01:32But they also said that they're incredibly pleased with what
01:36Paul Kagame has done to the country since he became president in 2000.
01:40In that time, economic growth has increased sixfold.
01:44Life expectancy has increased from 47 to 67.
01:48And child and infant mortality has decreased by 75%.
01:54So a lot of them are pleased with how far the economy has come.
01:57A lot of people have dubbed Rwanda as Africa's Singapore
02:01because of the amount of foreign direct investment it has attracted.
02:05They also told me they were pleased with the security situation.
02:08Rwanda has been in peace since Kagame came to power.
02:12So they're definitely incredibly pleased with that,
02:13especially in a region that is often quite turbulent.
02:17As you say, Olivia, little doubt as to the result of this election.
02:21Kagame expected to win by a landslide.
02:24There are, though, these two candidates opposing him in the election.
02:28Is this a meaningful opposition on the ballot to Kagame?
02:37Yes, that's right.
02:38So Paul Kagame is facing two political opponents,
02:41Philip Mpoyimana and Frank Habinaza.
02:44They're the same two political opponents that he faced in 2017.
02:48Frank Habinaza is often seen as the only credible political opponent.
02:52He was here at this polling station to cast his vote earlier today.
02:57Over the last few weeks, he's campaigned over issues of political freedom,
03:01of food security and of unemployment.
03:05But in 2017, he only won less than 1% of the vote.
03:09He has said that he's expecting to do better this year.
03:12When he spoke earlier today,
03:13he said that he's pleased with how far democracy has come since 2017.
03:18He's pleased to have been able to run,
03:21because the same cannot be said for all political opponents.
03:25Six other candidates had applied to run for presidency,
03:29but their candidacies were rejected by the electoral commission.
03:34Those candidates included some of Paul Kagame's most vocal critics.
03:39Now, a lot of human rights organizations have criticized
03:42Paul Kagame's government for stifling all of these political opponents.
03:47Amnesty International has published numerous reports
03:50saying that Paul Kagame's government has intimidated,
03:54imprisoned and even killed some political opponents and journalists.
03:58But in response to this criticism,
04:00Paul Kagame has said that these organizations
04:03do not understand the context in Rwanda.
04:08He's often said that Rwandan politics are built
04:11on the tragic legacy of the genocide of 1994
04:14when 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
04:18And so he said that what Rwanda needs is politics of consensus
04:22and not politics of confrontation.