Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni has been re elected president again for a sixth term in office. Election officials say he won the decisive re-elect
Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni has been re elected president again for a sixth term in office. Election officials say he won the decisive re-election victory on Saturday but his main rival Bobi Wine whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has alleged widespread fraud and said citizens should reject the result.
According to the electoral Commission, Museveni won 5.85 million votes, or 58.6%, while Wine, the main opposition candidate had 3.48 million votes (34.8%).
Earlier, Wine accused Museveni of fabricating the results and called the poll the most fraudulent election in the history of Uganda. He also urged citizens to reject the results.
Wine, a singer-turned-lawmaker, also said his home in the capital, Kampala, was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and that the military was not allowing him to leave.
Museveni, 76 who has been in power for 35 years, argued that his long experience in office makes him a good leader and promising to keep delivering stability and progress.
Wine, 38, galvanised young Ugandans with his calls for political change and pledged to end what he calls dictatorship and widespread corruption.
Wine said on Friday he had video proof of voting fraud, and would share the videos as soon as internet connections were restored. The government ordered the internet shut down the day before the election, and the blackout was still in place.
Electoral Commission Chairman Simon Byabakama said on Friday that under Ugandan law, the burden of proof rested with Wine.
Meanwhile no international observer was allowed to monitor the election. The United States and the European Union did not deploy observer teams, but the U.S. State Department’s top diplomat for Africa, Tibor Nagy, said in a tweet early on Saturday that the “electoral process has been fundamentally flawed”.
He cited fraud reports, denial of accreditation to observers, violence and harassment of opposition members, and the arrest of civil society activists.
The African Union and East African Community sent observer teams to the election, but neither group of officials responded to requests for comment about possible irregularities.
Police recorded 42 election-related offences nationwide during voting and tallying so far, police spokesman Fred Enanga said on Friday night on local NBS TV. Offences included assaults, voter bribery, and theft and damage of electoral materials, he said.
The run-up to Thursday’s election was more violent than in previous polls. Security forces cracked down on opposition candidates and their supporters during the campaign, and more than 50 people died in protests in November on one of the multiple occasions when Wine was arrested.
