On the 14 January 2021, Ugandans went to the poll to vote in an election which saw the
incumbent leader, Yoweri Museveni, having to face it off with the strongest opposition
leader, Bobi Wine.
Museveni won by 58.6%, while Bobi Wine had 34.8 %, according to the electoral commission
of Uganda.
The United States, and an African election monitoring group complained of election irregularities,
and Bobi Wine, the 38-year-old musician-turned-politician, who had rallied young Ugandans behind his
call for political change, called the results a "complete fraud”.
Bobi Wine indicated that the election was taken over by the military and the police.
He further indicated, that the Ugandan election was a mockery of democracy.
Bobi Wine was speaking on a phone interview from inside his home in the capital, Kampala,
which was surrounded by soldiers who he said had forbidden him from leaving.
The army's deputy spokesman, Deo Akiiki, told Reuters, that security officers at Bobi Wine's
house were assessing threats he could face by going out, so they might be preventing
him in the interest of his own safety.
After the results were announced, many neighbourhoods in normally bustling Kampala city centre were
unusually quiet as nightfall approached.
Soldiers and police who had patrolled throughout the day remained on the streets in large numbers.
Hundreds of the president's supporters rode motor-cycles from the election tallying centre
to down-town, where people danced with posters bearing the face of the 76 year old Museveni.
Yoweri Museveni was born in 1944, and he is currently 76 years old.
He has been in power for 35 years, and he campaigned for another term in office, arguing
that his long experience in office makes him a good leader, and promising to keep delivering
stability and progress in the impoverished country of Uganda.
Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, galvanised young Ugandans with his calls for
political change, and pledged to end what he calls dictatorship and widespread corruption
in Uganda.
On Friday 15 January 2021, Bobi Wine indicated that he had videos proofs of voting fraud,
and would share the videos as soon as internet connections were restored.
The government ordered the internet shut down on the day before the election, and the blackout
was still in place even after the elections.
According to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Uganda, Simon Byabakama, under
Ugandan law, the burden of proofs of voting fraud rested with Bobi Wine.
The Africa Elections Watch coalition, which deployed 2,000 observers in 146 districts,
said in a statement, that they had observed irregularities, including the late opening
of most polling stations, missing ballot papers, and illegally opened ballot boxes.
The African Union and East African Community sent observer teams to the election, but neither
group of officials responded to requests for comment about possible irregularities.
The European Union and the US did not deploy observer teams, but Tibor Peter Nagy, the
United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said in a tweet early
on Saturday, that the electoral process had been fundamentally flawed.
He cited fraud reports, denial of accreditation to observers, violence and harassment of opposition
members, and the arrest of civil society activists.
According to Police Spokesman, Fred Enanga, the Police recorded 42 election-related offences
nationwide during voting and tallying.
The offences included assaults, voter bribery, theft, and damage of electoral materials.
The run-up to the day of election was more violent than in previous polls.
Security forces cracked down on opposition candidates and their supporters during the
campaign, and more than 50 people died in protests in November 2020, on one of the multiple
occasions when Bobi Wine was arrested.
In addition to the internet blackout, the government banned all social media and messaging
apps.
Bobi Wine and his supporters often used Facebook to relay live coverage of his campaign.
In the parliamentary election, where candidates were vying for 529 seats, results were still
coming in, but Ugandan media reported that 56 candidates from Bobi Wine's National Unity
Platform had won their races, while the Forum for Democratic Change, previously the largest
opposition party, had so far won 34 seats.
The vice president of Uganda, Edward Ssekandi, was one of a number of senior ruling party
law-makers, who lost their seats.
Please check in the description box below, for the links to the sources of this report.
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