KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power for four decades, won his seventh term with 71.65% of the vote, according to official results Saturday, in an election marred by internet shutdown and fraud claims by his youthful challenger, who rejected the outcome and called for peaceful protests.
The musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine took 24.72% of the vote, the final results showed. Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, condemned what he described as an unfair electoral process and alleged abductions of his polling agents. He rejected the “fake results” and urged Ugandans to peacefully protest until the “rightful results are announced.”
Wine said he had to escape to avoid arrest by security forces who stormed his house Friday night. His party said earlier he was forcefully taken away in an army helicopter, but police denied it.
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said Wine was “not under arrest” and was free to leave his house, but there was “controlled access” for others trying to go on the property to prevent people from inciting violence.
Electoral officials face questions about the failure of biometric voter identification machines, which caused delays Thursday in the start of voting in urban areas — including the capital, Kampala — that are opposition strongholds.
After the machines failed, in a blow to pro-democracy activists who have long demanded their use to curb rigging, polling officials used manual registers of votes. The failure of the machines is likely to be the basis for any legal challenges to the official result.
Museveni said he agreed with the electoral commission’s plan to revert to paper voter registration records after the biometric machines failed, but Wine alleged fraud, claiming that there was “massive ballot stuffing” and that his party’s polling agents were abducted to give an unfair advantage to the ruling party.
The head of the observer mission for the African Union, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, told journalists Saturday that the mission did not find “any evidence of ballot stuffing” in the polling stations the team observed. But he urged the electoral commission to test biometric machines in advance to prevent the failures and delays witnessed on election day.
Museveni, 81, has stayed in power since 1986 by rewriting the rules. The last legal obstacle to his rule — term and age limits — was removed from the constitution, and some of Museveni’s possible rivals jailed or sidelined. He has not said when he will retire.
Yusuf Serunkuma, an academic and columnist for the local Observer newspaper, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Wine “didn’t stand a chance” against the authoritarian Museveni. “He has quite successfully emasculated the opposition,” Serunkuma said of Museveni. “You would have to credit him for that.”
Though crediting Wine for a courageous challenge, Serunkuma said Museveni faced “one of the weakest oppositions” in recent times, in part because opposition figures are not united while Museveni is the undisputed leader of his party and enjoys authority over the armed forces.
The security forces were a constant presence throughout the election campaign, and Wine said authorities followed him and harassed his supporters, using tear gas against them. He campaigned in a flak jacket and helmet because of his security fears.
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.
Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he was charged with treason last February.
The post Ugandan President Museveni secures 7th term as opposition rejects results appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
