KIGALI: Rwanda’s all-powerful President Paul Kagame was sworn in on Sunday for a fourth term after sweeping to victory in elections last month with more than 99 percent of the vote.

Several dozen heads of state and other dignitaries from African nations joined the inauguration ceremony at a packed 45,000-seat stadium in Kigali, where crowds had started gathering from the early morning.

Kagame took the oath of office before Chief Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo, pledging to “preserve peace and national sovereignty, consolidate national unity”.

The outcome of the July 15 poll was never in doubt for the iron-fisted Kagame, who has ruled the small African nation since the 1994 genocide, as de facto leader and then president.

He won 99.18 percent of ballots cast to secure another five years in power, according to the National Electoral Commission.

Rights activists said the 66-year-old’s overwhelming victory was a stark reminder of the lack of democracy in Rwanda. Only two candidates were authorised to run against him out of eight applicants, with several prominent Kagame critics barred.

Democratic Green Party leader Frank Habineza scraped into second place with 0.5 percent of the vote against 0.32 percent for independent Philippe Mpayimana.