Turnout heavy, security tight as Uganda votes in landmark polls

KAMPALA – Ugandans flooded polling stations yesterday to cast ballots in landmark elections dominated by a bitter battle between President Yoweri Museveni and opposition leader Kizza Besigye.

Hundreds queued patiently, and not so patiently, in huge lines at many of the nearly 20 000 open-air voting centres organised for the east African nation’s first multi-party elections in 26 years, AFP correspondents said. Some voters complained of logistical hitches and delays but the process appeared to be progressing peacefully under the watchful eyes of security forces that were been deployed in massive numbers amid fears of violence.By mid-day, some in the capital said they had been waiting four to five hours due to confusion over where they were supposed to vote and the large numbers, while polling was disrupted in the north by heavy rains.”Since 1980 we have been voting over there, now they tell us we have to come here,” bemoaned Christopher Ssekabira, 58, pointing to a distant school from a church in northern Kampala where he and about 50 others had been redirected.”We were bounced from one station to another because of a mix-up in the registers and the stations were not properly marked,” Annette Buyonda, 38, told AFP as she waited in line in western Kampala.But authorities said that with the exception of one northern constituency, where the parliamentary poll was cancelled outright because one candidate’s name was missing from the ballot, voting was running smoothly.”So far, so good,” Electoral Commission secretary Sam Rwakoojo told AFP.Polls were due to close at 5pm with results due tomorrow, according to authorities who have vowed a free and fair election despite opposition charges of intimidation in the tension-fraught campaign and fears of fraud.About 10,4 million Ugandans are eligible to vote for one of five presidential candidates and the 310-seat parliament but the campaign has been overshadowed by animosity between the main contenders for the top job.Although Museveni is widely expected to win and extend his 20-year hold on power with a new five-year mandate, the spirited challenge from Besigye, his former personal physician and friend, has riveted this country of 26 million.- Nampa-AFPSome voters complained of logistical hitches and delays but the process appeared to be progressing peacefully under the watchful eyes of security forces that were been deployed in massive numbers amid fears of violence.By mid-day, some in the capital said they had been waiting four to five hours due to confusion over where they were supposed to vote and the large numbers, while polling was disrupted in the north by heavy rains.”Since 1980 we have been voting over there, now they tell us we have to come here,” bemoaned Christopher Ssekabira, 58, pointing to a distant school from a church in northern Kampala where he and about 50 others had been redirected.”We were bounced from one station to another because of a mix-up in the registers and the stations were not properly marked,” Annette Buyonda, 38, told AFP as she waited in line in western Kampala.But authorities said that with the exception of one northern constituency, where the parliamentary poll was cancelled outright because one candidate’s name was missing from the ballot, voting was running smoothly.”So far, so good,” Electoral Commission secretary Sam Rwakoojo told AFP.Polls were due to close at 5pm with results due tomorrow, according to authorities who have vowed a free and fair election despite opposition charges of intimidation in the tension-fraught campaign and fears of fraud.About 10,4 million Ugandans are eligible to vote for one of five presidential candidates and the 310-seat parliament but the campaign has been overshadowed by animosity between the main contenders for the top job.Although Museveni is widely expected to win and extend his 20-year hold on power with a new five-year mandate, the spirited challenge from Besigye, his former personal physician and friend, has riveted this country of 26 million.- Nampa-AFP