Ugandan leader Museveni to extend 40-year rule after being declared winner of contested poll

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of Thursday’s election, extending his four decades in power by another five years.

He gained 72% of the vote, the election commission has announced, against 25% for his closest challenger Bobi Wine, who has condemned what he has described as “fake results” and “ballot stuffing”.

He has not provided any evidence and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Wine has called on Ugandans to hold non-violent protests.

Museveni (81) first came to power as a rebel leader in 1986 but since then has won seven elections.

The election process was marred by violence and Wine (43), a former pop star, says at least 21 people have been killed around the country in recent days.

The authorities have so far confirmed seven deaths.

Access to the internet has been cut in the country since Tuesday, making it hard to verify information.

The authorities say the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence – a move condemned by the United Nations human rights office as “deeply worrying”.

Wine has demanded that the internet be restored.

Overnight, Wine’s party said he had been abducted from his home in the capital, Kampala – a claim denied by the police.

Wine later issued a statement on Facebook saying he had managed to evade a night-time raid by security forces and was in hiding.

He had previously said he was under house arrest.

This has not been confirmed by the police, but spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said Wine’s movements were restricted because his home was an area of “security interest”.

“We have controlled access to areas which are security hotspots,” Uganda’s Daily Monitor paper quoted him as saying.

“We cannot allow people to use some places to gather and cause chaos,” he said.

Wine says he represents the youth in a country where most of the population is aged under 30.

During the campaign, he promised to tackle corruption and impose sweeping reforms, while Museveni argued that he was the sole guarantor of stability in Uganda, a country with a history of conflict.

There were six other candidates, but none got more than 2% of the vote.

The turnout was 52.5%.

The campaign period was marred by the disruption of opposition activities – security forces have been accused of assaulting and detaining Wine’s supporters.

Rusoke has dismissed these complaints, accusing opposition supporters of being disruptive. – BBC

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