Uganda: After 40 years in power, 81-year-old Museveni wins 7th term

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term in office on Saturday after an election marred by violence and an internet shutdown, with African observers saying arrests and abductions had “instilled fear”.

Museveni, 81, won 71.65 percent of the vote in Thursday’s election, the Electoral Commission said, amid reports of at least 10 deaths and intimidation of the opposition and civil society.

His victory allows him to extend his 40-year rule of the east African country.

He defeated Bobi Wine, 43, a former singer-turned-politician who won 24.72 percent and said he was in hiding on Saturday after a raid by security forces on his home.

Wine has faced relentless pressure since entering politics, including multiple arrests before his first run for the presidency in 2021.

He stated his “complete rejection of the fake results” and said he was on the run after the raid on his home on Friday night.

“I want to confirm that I managed to escape from them,” Wine posted on X on Saturday. Currently, I am not at home, although my wife and other family members remain under house arrest.

“I know that these criminals are looking for me everywhere and I am trying my best to keep safe,” he added.

There was a heavy police presence around the capital, Kampala, AFP journalists saw, as security forces sought to prevent the sort of protests that have hit neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months.

– ‘A lot of fear’ – Police denied they had raided Wine’s home but said they had “controlled access in areas we feel are security hotspots”, adding they believed the opposition leader was still at home.

“We have not necessarily denied people accessing him but we cannot tolerate instances where people use his residence to gather and… incite violence,” police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told reporters.

A stall-owner near Wine’s home, 29-year-old Prince Jerard, told AFP he had heard a drone and helicopter at the residence the previous night, and saw numerous security officials.

“Many people have left (the area),” he said. “We have a lot of fear.”

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has emerged as the main challenger to Museveni in recent years, styling himself the “ghetto president” after the Kampala slum areas where he grew up.

He has accused the government of “massive ballot stuffing” and attacking several of his party officials under cover of the internet blackout, which was imposed ahead of the polls and remained in place on Saturday.

African election observers said on Saturday they saw no evidence of ballot stuffing but denounced “reports of intimidation, arrest and abductions” targeting the opposition and civil society.

This “instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process”, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan told reporters in Kampala.

He was representing election observers from the African Union, as well as regional bodies COMESA and IGAD for east and southern Africa.

Jonathan said the shutdown of the internet “disrupted effective observation” and “increased suspicion” but that the overall conduct of the polls on election day was “peaceful”.

– Reports of violence – Museveni’s ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, also had a commanding lead in parliamentary seats, according to provisional results. Ballots were still being counted.

Analysts have long viewed the election as a formality.

Museveni, a former guerrilla fighter who seized power in 1986, has total control over the state and security apparatus, and has ruthlessly crushed any challenger during his rule.

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.

There were reports of election-related violence against the opposition.

Muwanga Kivumbi, member of parliament for Wine’s party in the Butambala area of central Uganda, told AFP’s Nairobi office by phone that security forces had killed 10 of his campaign agents after storming his home.

Police gave a different account, saying an “unspecified number” of people had been “put out of action” when opposition members planned to overrun and burn down a local tally centre and police station.

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