President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has secured a sixth term in office extending his rule to 40 years.
The Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Uganda, Ambassador Atillio Pacifici, has said they are impressed with the level of organisation and peaceful conduct exhibited during the presidential and parliamentary polls, The East African reported.
Uganda’s Electoral Commission declared the long term president Yoweri Museveni the winner, with his closest rivals led by Robert Kyagulanyi better known as Bobi Wine, disputing the poll results.
Quarts Africa reported that Museveni’s declared win means his presidency has outlived those of six US leaders and will coincide with a seventh one when Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20th . Museveni is older than 80% of Uganda’s youthful population who have only known one president.
The Africa Report said that on Friday, Kyagulanyi said that the results were doctored, claiming that among other things, armed security officers had given people pre-ticked ballot papers. He also said his home had been surrounded and visitors blocked from seeing him, and that he and his wife’s phones had been blocked. Opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) also called the election “fraudulent.”
Museveni’s long standing rival, Bobi Wine, a popstar turned politician, came second in the official tally and has been confined to his home by government security forces since the Jan.14 polling day. The police and military are in charge of who can visit and have made arrests and blocked journalists and other officials.
There have also surfaced videos of his wife being assaulted by police online in a case to intimidate him.
Ugandans are encouraged to reject the results of the election and use peaceful and lawful means to challenge the outcome. This is met with a lot of mystery due to the past events where Ugandans have protested, and it has ended in death and in injuries.
Germany’s very own famous Kenyan DJ, DJ Aisher talked to AfroNews with a few remarks to the elections process and results. She added that condemns irregularities in Uganda’s presidential election, urges Bobbi Wine to challenge Yoweri Museveni’s victory, WE WROTE ABOUT HER STANCE HERE>>.
Such protests during the election campaign have in the recent past resulted in a carnage with a lot of Ugandans paying the price for fighting for their right. The videos surfaced on the social media and were too gruesome to share.
A costly internet switch off remains in place with the opposition and other citizens struggling to communicate or do business in the information black out. Reports indicate the network will be restored on 18th January at the earliest.
A team of 26 election observers arrested on 14th January remain in police custody after police raided what the force said was an illegal attempt to set up a parallel tally center. While the US and the European Union, officially, stayed out of observing the polls, the EU ambassador in the country gave the polls a clean bill of health to the consternation of many.
According to results presented by EC Chairman Simon Byakabama, Museveni won 5.85 million votes while Wine polled 3.475 million votes.
Sources: Afronews.de, the Africa report, GZ