Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine has on Friday claimed victory in presidential elections while rejecting early results that gave incumbent President Yoweri Museveni a wide lead. The electoral commission said on Friday that with 49.1 per cent of votes from Thursday’s ballot counted, Museveni had won 3.9 million, or 62.7 per cent – while main opposition candidate Wine had 1.4 million votes (29.3 per cent), the electoral commission said just after 5 pm.
The next batch of results was due to be released at 9 pm when a nationwide curfew in place since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic kicks in. The opposition leader, who has been arrested multiple times during the campaigning, earlier said the presidential election was marred by ‘fraud and violence’ without providing any evidence. Bobi Wine said he would detail election irregularities by the ruling party once the internet was restored. The internet remained down for a third day as vote counting continued.
The US, EU, UN and global rights and democracy groups have raised concerns about the integrity and transparency of the election. Although, the African Union (AU), has sent monitors, along with an AU women’s group.
