Kampala, Jan 18, (dpa/GNA) – Incumbent Yoweri Museveni has won Uganda’s presidential election with a large majority, according to the country’s electoral commission on Saturday.
The 81-year-old received 71% of the vote, the commission announced. Museveni will therefore govern for a seventh five-year term.
Bobi Wine, a 44-year-old former musician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi and was considered his strongest rival, followed with 24% of the vote.
Wine levelled accusations of vote rigging in a video message posted Saturday on X, saying the “so-called results that they are declaring are fake and they don’t in any way reflect what happened at the polling stations.”
Shortly beforehand, he had announced that he had escaped an attempted kidnapping by state security forces on Friday evening and was now in hiding.
Wine is particularly popular with young voters, who make up the majority of registered voters.
Some 21 million were eligible to cast a ballot in the election out of the 50 million people living in Uganda.
During the election campaign, critics had pointed to repression against opposition candidates and their supporters.
Internet access has been blocked in Uganda since Tuesday evening.
The government also barred journalists from reporting on possible protests linked to Thursday’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
In the run-up to the vote, activists slammed government repression targeting opposition candidates and their supporters.
The UN Human Rights Commission has also expressed concern about “undue restrictions” on the opposition by state security forces.
GNA