President Yoweri Museveni was named the winner of Uganda’s controversial presidential election on Saturday, with the country’s electoral commission confirming 58.6% of the vote for the 76-year-old leader and his ruling party, the National Resistance Movement ( NRM).
Opposition leader Bobi Wine and the National Unity Platform (NUP) won just over a third of the total, with 34.8% of the votes announced by the electoral commission – a result Wine, a member of parliament and activist musician, quickly dismissed. .
Wine warned of continued arrests and widespread fraud, and said on Saturday that “the military has taken charge” and that no one is allowed to enter his home.
“None of these military intruders are talking to us. We are in serious trouble. We are under siege, â€Wine said in a social media message.
Wine had said on Thursday that neither he nor his wife could use their phones amid a wider internet shutdown in Uganda, which appeared to continue over the weekend.
The battle between Wine and Museveni spans years, with Wine taking his seat as an MP in 2017 and remaining the most visible and prominent challenger throughout Museveni’s successful candidacy for constitutional changes to enable the 76 year old man to introduce himself again.
The president has now been in office since 1986 and is expected to continue working with an NRM majority in the legislature.
Image: President Yoweri Museveni
