Article content

KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwandans have voted overwhelmingly to lift constitutional restrictions to allow President Paul Kagame to run for more terms in office, said the head of Rwanda’s electoral commission as he released provisional results Saturday.

More than 98 per cent of voters in 30 districts voted to lift term limits for Kagame, Mbanda Kalisa said.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Rwandans vote to lift term limits for President Paul Kagame, he could rule until 2034 Back to video

“The final results will be released on Monday but this will not change much,” Kalisa told journalists in Kigali. He said Rwandans who voted to maintain term limits were 1.7 per cent.

More than 6 million registered voters participated in the exercise, representing a voter turnout of 98.28 per cent, he said. “(The)voting process was peaceful,” Kalisa said.

The provisional results surpass predictions by pollsters that 92 per cent of Rwandans would support amending the constitution to remove the term limits.

Rwanda’s political opposition criticized the referendum as undemocratic and the U.S., a key Rwandan ally, has opposed Kagame’s bid to stay in power.