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Rwandans Overseas Begin Voting in Presidential Election


Election volunteers count ballots at a polling station in Rwanda's capital Kigali Aug. 3, 2017, in preparation for the presidential election on Friday.
Election volunteers count ballots at a polling station in Rwanda's capital Kigali Aug. 3, 2017, in preparation for the presidential election on Friday.

Rwandans living outside the country have started voting a day before the presidential election that longtime leader Paul Kagame is widely expected to win.

The electoral commission for the East African nation says more than 44,000 people in the diaspora are expected to vote at nearly 100 polling stations. Political analysts say that's a small part of the millions of Rwandans living overseas.

Rwanda's 6.9 million registered voters can vote on Friday.

Kagame won the 2010 election with 93 percent of the vote.

His challengers this time include little-known Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party — the only permitted opposition party — and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana.

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