Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of presidential elections, extending his 25 years in power, BBC online reports Sunday evening.
He took 68 per cent of the vote in Friday’s poll, the Electoral Commission announced, with his main challenger Kizza Besigye on 26 per cent
Mr Besigye alleges election fraud and has rejected the results. Mr Besigye earlier threatened to call street protests if he felt the process was not free and fair. The governing party has been accused of using state resources to bribe (bestikke) voters.
Although the presidential race was largely peaceful, there were several clashes between supporters of rival candidates in the parliamentary elections. Mr Museveni has vowed to stop any Egyptian-style street protests and lock up any demonstrators.
Dr. Besigye said, that “it is now clear the will of the people cannot be expressed through the electoral process in this kind of corrupt and repressive political environment.”
He added that his coalition’s own poll tally had been disrupted by the government blocking its text message system for collecting results.
The opposition candidate was standing against Mr Museveni for the third time. Mr Museveni has defeated his challengers every five years since 1996, though his support was steadily declining before this election.
The European Union’s chief election observer said he was generally happy with what he had witnessed.
