Polls closed in Uganda on Thursday after a chaotic day of voting that took place under an internet blackout and with long delays caused by technical breakdowns as President Yoweri Museveni seeks to extend his 40 years in power.
Museveni, an 81-year-old who came to power at the head of a rebel army in 1986, is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state and security apparatus.
But inside a Kampala stadium in an opposition stronghold, there were loud cheers as a crowd watched the counting of votes and returning officers read out ballots for the main challenger, singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine. The 43-year-old styles himself the “ghetto president” after the slum areas of the city where he grew up, but has faced “brutal repression” of his campaign, according to rights groups. Official results were due within 48 hours.
Wine accused the government of “massive ballot-stuffing” and arresting some of his party officials under cover of the internet blackout imposed by the government this week. In many polling stations around the country, voting was delayed by several hours as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines – used to verify voters’ identity – were malfunctioning, which some blamed on the internet blockage. “We are holding elections in the dark,” Wine said after casting his vote. “This is done in order to facilitate the intended rigging of the regime,” he said. “We would encourage the people of Uganda to resist.”
But voting passed off peacefully. A spokesperson for the Ugandan Red Cross, which deployed across the country ahead of polls, told AFP they had heard “no substantive” reports of violence. There was a heavy police and army presence throughout the day, with authorities determined to prevent the anti-government protests seen in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months.
Museveni acknowledged even he had trouble with the voting machines and promised to investigate. “I put my right… thumbprint. The machine did not accept it. I put my left, it did not accept it,” he told journalists, adding that the machine finally accepted a scan of his face, allowing him to vote.
