KAMPALA, (Reuters) – Long-time leader Yoweri Museveni had a commanding lead in Uganda’s presidential election according to preliminary results yesterday though his main rival Bobi Wine said there had been widespread fraud.
With 6.8 million ballots counted, or 37% of registered voters, Museveni had won 4.05 million, or 62.2%, while main opposition candidate Wine had 1.99 million votes (30.6%), the electoral commission said just after 9 p.m. (1800 GMT).
The election campaign was marred by deadly crackdowns by security forces on opposition candidates and their supporters. Wine and some other opposition candidates were arrested on multiple occasions.
There was a heavy security presence around Wine’s sprawling compound yesterday. The singer-turned-lawmaker said he was under siege and his life was in danger.
“We have simply boosted our deployment in the neighbourhood for his own security. We are not there to arrest him and he is not under arrest,” Luke Owoyesigyire, deputy spokesman for Kampala’s metropolitan police said. The deputy spokesman for Uganda’s armed forces, Deo Akiiki, said security officers intervened on Friday to arrest three intruders who had jumped over the fence into Wine’s compound.
Wine has galvanized young Ugandans with calls for political change and he told a news conference on Friday that he had video proof of voting fraud. “I am very confident that we defeated the dictator by far,” he said.
“We are putting every legal, every constitutional and every non-violent option on the table,” Wine told Reuters. “I will be happy to share the videos of all the fraud and irregularities as soon as the internet is restored.”
