Vox Populi

The people have spoken: Paul Kagame is the popularly elected president of Rwanda. No, I haven't read the news yet - I just know that there were elections yesterday in Rwanda, and there's no way anyone else could have won.

Having been in Rwanda during the campaigns, it was obvious who was hot - Kagame - and who was not - anyone else. There were plenty of political rallies, and kids carried little paper flags with party initials on them. Thing is, only Kagame's RPF was in evidence. I saw headquarters of two other parties - one of which had a sign over the door endorsing Kagame! The people, both Hutu and Tutsi loved Kagame. He's done a good job - a very good job - and he deserves another term at the helm.

The one-sidedness of the elections can be viewed as a deficiency, and if it persists in ensuing election cycles, Rwanda will become just one more mockery of democracy. However, I think for now it's actually a positive. I don't think Rwanda could have sustained, at this point, a real election. This is sort of a "dress rehearsal" - people can get a feel for voting, choosing, participating in campaigns, and having a president of their choice. The real test will be if Kagame steps down or is seriously challenged next time around.

AllAfrica.com has some more scientific news on the election:

An estimated 4.1 million Rwandans began voting on Monday to elect a president in the first multiparty election since the central African nation attained independence from Belgium 40 years ago... Twagiramungu, 58, who is Hutu, faces pressure from civil society and political parties who have accused him of campaigning on a ticket of ethnicity. However, Twagiramungu has said that the issue of ethnicity is a Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)-orchestrated weapon used to tarnish his image and silence him... Kagame, a Tutsi who led the RPF rebels who ousted the predominantly Hutu government in 1994, ending the genocide, has the support of seven of the country's nine recognised political parties and is the favourite to win today's poll.

Global perspective: Rwanda is a provincial backwater in Africa, even if it's the most densely populated country on the continent. Whatever happens in Rwanda, it's unlikely to have repurcussions more than 200 miles from Rwanda's borders. The world can ignore anything there - even the slaughter of a million innocents - without having to deal with anything except slight conscience pangs.

For Rwandese, it's another story.