Ugandan Opposition Party Says It Will Challenge Election Result

The Ugandan opposition party said on Sunday that it was preparing to challenge President Yoweri Museveni‘s election win and condemned what it called the house arrest of Its leader – Bobi Wine’, as news emerged of two people killed in protests over the result.

Protests broke out on Saturday after results from Thursday’s election were announced in two areas, Luwero district north of Kampala and Masaka to the southwest and security forces killed two people and arrested 23 in total, NTV Uganda reported on Sunday, citing local police.

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No other details were immediately available about the protests.

A nationwide internet blackout since the day before the vote has slowed the flow of information about the process.

‘We have evidence of ballot stuffing and other forms of election malpractice and after putting it together we are going to take all measures that the law permits to challenge this fraud,’ Matthias Mpuuga of Wine’s National Unity Party (NUP) told a news conference.

On Saturday the electoral commission declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s vote, with final counts showing the president won 59% of votes to Wine’s 35%. Announcing the results, the commission congratulated Ugandans on a peaceful and successful process.

The United States and Britain issued statements on Saturday calling for investigations into fraud reports and other concerns over the electoral process. The campaign and election were marked by a deadly crackdown by security forces on opposition candidates and their supporters and an internet shutdown.

The African Union sent an observer team but it did not arrive in Uganda until the day before the vote due to COVID-19 related issues and observed polling only in the capital and its immediate environs, it said in a statement, describing its work as ‘more of a solidarity mission‘ than a ‘classical election observer mission.‘ An African election monitoring group that deployed 2,000 Ugandan observers reported irregularities.