Voters in Rwanda lined up at polling stations on Monday to elect their next president, with 66-year-old incumbent Paul Kagame, who has ruled the central African country for nearly a quarter of a century, expected to cruise to victory. Kagame has won more than 93% of the vote at each of the three previous elections. Eight candidates had applied to run against him, but only two were retained in the final list validated by the electoral commission. The others, including Kagame’s most vocal critics, were barred for various reasons that included prior criminal convictions. At the Rwandexco polling center in the capital Kigali, people started queueing 90 minutes before polls opened. Voter Barimukije Pheneas said he had chosen to re-elect Kagame, who is praised for rebuilding the country in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide by prioritizing development and putting in place effective social services. “We voted smoothly without any…
