NAIROBI, Kenya — Rwandans went to the polls on Friday, appearing to overwhelmingly extend the long tenure of President Paul Kagame, who has guided the country with a steady and at times repressive hand after a genocide two decades ago.

With 80 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Kagame was drawing the support of 98.7 percent of those casting ballots, according to the country’s electoral commission.

The two opposition candidates, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party and the independent Philippe Mpayimana, a former journalist, had yet to reach 1 percent of the vote, the commission reported from the capital, Kigali. A third challenger, Diane Rwigara, who had been considered Mr. Kagame’s strongest opponent, was disqualified in July.

Mr. Kagame seems to be hugely popular at home and has been widely praised abroad for bringing stability to his traumatized country after a 1994 genocide left hundreds of thousands dead. But there is no viable opposition in Rwanda, and dissenting views are frequently silenced.