With 79% of the votes counted, Kagame won more than 99% of the vote.
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame is set to win a fourth term in office after winning more than 99% of the vote, according to preliminary results from election authorities.
President Kagame, the country's de facto leader for three decades, faces only two challengers after a court barred his most prominent critics.
The National Electoral Commission announced late on Monday that 79% of the votes had been counted, with Kagame winning 99% of the vote.
Frank Habineza of the Rwanda Democratic Green Party received 0.53 percent of the vote, while independent candidate Philip Mpaimana received 0.32 percent, according to the commission.
Kagame's vote share was higher than the 98.7% he received in the last elections in 2017.
The commission barred eight other candidates from running, citing incomplete registration documents.
Full provisional results are expected by July 20th, and final results by July 27th.
Kagame, 66, who has been president since 2000, thanked the nation for granting him a fourth term in office in a speech at the headquarters of his ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).
“The results released show very high scores but this is not just a number. Even if it was 100 percent, this is not just a number,” he said.
“These numbers show trust, and that's the most important thing,” he added. “I'm hopeful that if we work together, we can solve all our problems.”
In a country where 65 percent of the population is under 30, Kagame is the only leader most Rwandans know.
He is credited with rebuilding a shattered nation after the 1994 genocide but is accused of ruling in a climate of fear at home and fomenting destabilization in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kagame is one of several African leaders who have extended their term in power by pursuing changes to term limits: In 2015, Rwandans voted in a referendum to lift the two-term limit, potentially allowing Kagame to stay in power until 2034.
Despite criticism, President Kagame is popular for overseeing an average economic growth rate of 7.2 percent between 2012 and 2022 and the development of critical infrastructure such as hospitals and roads.
