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Louis Oelofse with AP, AFP, Reuters
Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of the presidential election, extending his rule beyond four decades. Meanwhile, the opposition candidate has reportedly gone into hiding.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has secured a seventh term in office.
The Electoral Commission announced he won with more than 71.65% of the vote. His main challenger, best known as Bobi Wine, received 24.72%.
Earlier Wine said he had escaped a raid by security forces on his home and was in hiding in the country.
“Last night was very difficult at our home … The military and the police raided us. They switched off power and cut off some of our CCTV cameras,” Wine wrote on social media.
Police denied the incident, but added it was there was “controlled access” for others trying to go into Wine’s property, to prevent people from using the premises to incite violence.
Museveni won a seventh term
At age 81, Museveni extended his 40-year rule following an election marked by reports of at least 10 deaths and allegations of intimidation against the opposition and civil society.
He first came to power in 1986 as a guerrilla leader. Since then, he has consolidated control over the state and security forces, crushing any challengers.
Over the years, he has removed constitutional term and age limits, clearing the way for his continued leadership. Some potential rivals have been jailed or sidelined. Museveni has not indicated when he plans to step down.
Delays and disruptions at polling stations
The opposition’s Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu has condemned what he described as an unfair electoral process, marred by an internet shutdown, military deployments and the alleged abductions of his polling agents.
The other major opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, who ran four times against Museveni, was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and brought back to a military court in Uganda for a treason trial that is ongoing.
Electoral officials are also under scrutiny after biometric voter identification machines failed on Thursday, delaying voting in urban opposition strongholds such as Kampala.
With the machines down, polling staff switched to manual voter registers, a setback for pro-democracy activists who had pushed for biometrics to prevent rigging. The failures are expected to feature prominently in any legal challenges to the results.
African election observers reported no evidence of ballot stuffing but condemned “intimidation, arrests and abductions” targeting the opposition and civil society.
This “instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process”, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, representing election observers from the African Union, said.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
Source: dw.com
