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Rwandan election flawed but good enough, EU says

EU observers said on Wednesday Rwanda's presidential election did not entirely meet "free and fair standards" but was an important step towards democracy in the central African nation.

"The optimum conditions for a free and fair election were probably not met but this presidential election is a promise for the opening of a new democratic era for Rwanda," the head of the EU observer mission, Colette Flesch, told reporters in Kigali.

Incumbent President Paul Kagame won 95 percent of Monday's vote in the first presidential election since an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in a genocide in 1994.

The EU said it had noted irregularities such as Kagame representatives intimidating voters at polling stations on election day and stuffing ballot boxes.

"There was illegal manipulation of the list [of voters], as seen in the significant differences in numbers of people on voters lists and number of counted ballot papers in some polling stations," Flesch said.

But the vice president of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), Christopher Bazivamo, said the EU report was biased and promised to give a more detailed reaction after reading it.

"Ours was a transparent process. I did not see a policeman standing behind any voter forcing him to vote for Kagame," he said.

The main opposition candidate, Faustin Twagiramungu, rejected results pointing to a landslide win for Kagame in the polls, regarded as a test of democracy in the tiny central African country of 8 million.

Twagiramungu, has complained that his supporters were harassed by Kagame's agents and voters intimidated. Kagame has denied the allegations.

Twagiramungu welcomed the EU report.

"I appreciate the report and what it says is the truth. [But] I don't think it will change anything, we will still file our petition to contest the result," Twagiramungu said.

He said he was unhappy with the way Kagame's win was nonetheless receiving diplomatic approval from most countries.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was among the African leaders who congratulated Kagame on his victory.
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