Incumbent President Paul Kagame
Incumbent President Paul Kagame has expressed heartfelt gratitude to all Rwandans, his political party and coalition and his family for support in the presidential election which he has just won with 99.15 per cent votes according to 79 per cent count.
At Intare conference Arena, which is the headquarters of the party, Kagame was surrounded by party leaders, members and political parties which fronted him as presidential candidate. They gathered in the vast garden shortly before the proclamation of partial results.
Kagame first expressed gratitude towards the eight parties in the coalition for their support and then thanked his family.
“I want to thank my family which is actually here, because they accompanied me everywhere and supported me a lot. In fact, they serve as walking cane for me,” Kagame said.
“On a particular note, I want to thank everyone who managed to be here representing so many people. You have been so close to us, especially in doing this job that we have just finished,” Kagame said.
Kagame further thanked the artistes who gave the morale to the supporters through the campaign trail, and the youth.
“I can’t thank you enough,” he said.
Speaking about the votes, Kagame said: “If I put this in human perspective, this means something great, it means trust. Those figures are not just figures, there is much trust in them. There is nothing you can give to earn trust, rather, trust is something that is built over time.”
“By the way, have you ever seen me looking desperate? I never feel hopeless and helpless. In any situation, whatever hard it can be, I never feel down because I always trust that I can join hands with you to resolve any problem.”
Kagame said, that some people do not understand the secret of Rwandans and their trust to Rwanda’s leadership which keeps increasing.
“It is our unique way of doing-ubudasa of RPF, and Rwandans at large,” he said.
“Let’s make it a lifestyle to face problems without blame game or indifference. We can solve problems that we can manage and take time to gather more strength for those that we may not be able to solve with immediate effect.”
The incumbent Paul Kagame said that after putting the elections behind, it’s now time to work for the benefit of all Rwandans.
With 0.32 and 0.53 per cent respectively, both the independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana and Frank Habineza who represents the decmocratic Green party of Rwanda conceded defeat.
“Not much to say on the results. The most important is that we are able and ready to contribute to country development in any capacity,” Mpayimana said from a hotel where he waited the results from.
“Any time when Rwandans will feel that they want to change the leadership through democracy, let them not fear to think about me because I still love Rwanda despite defeat, “he said.
“Dear Rwandans, in the past moment we have received the preliminary results released by the NEC. We want to communicate that we have accepted them and congratulate the winner HE Paul Kagame,” The New Times Rwanda quoted Frank Habineza as saying.
