President Yoweri Museveni has taken an early lead in Uganda’s presidential election, according to provisional results released by the Electoral Commission on Friday morning.
The commission announced that with about 45 per cent of polling stations reporting, Museveni had garnered 76.25 per cent of the vote, translating to approximately 3.9 million votes.
His closest challenger, National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, was trailing with 19.85 percent, or approximately 1.3 million votes.
The early results place the long-serving president firmly ahead as the vote tallying process continues across the country, though the Electoral Commission cautioned that the figures remain provisional and subject to change as more polling stations submit their returns.
The election has been closely watched both locally and internationally, with Museveni seeking to extend his decades-long rule against a youthful opposition led by Bobi Wine, who has positioned himself as a symbol of change, particularly among young voters.
Votes are being counted in parts of Uganda amid an internet shutdown and opposition accusations of rigging in presidential and parliamentary elections.
“Massive ballot-stuffing reported everywhere,” declared presidential hopeful Bobi Wine in a post on social media, without providing documentary proof.
The authorities have not responded to his allegations of electoral fraud, nor to his claim that “many” polling agents and supervisors belonging to his NUP party were “abducted, and others chased off polling stations”.
Delays of up to four hours have been blamed on malfunctioning biometric machines used to verify voters’ identities.
Some have linked the problems to the network outage, plus a lack of voting materials, and equipment not arriving at some stations on time.
Polling stations, therefore, closed later than planned. The electoral commission says that anybody who joined the queue by 5:00 pm was able to cast their ballot.
Earlier on, the electoral agency apologised for the “technical glitches” and said officials were working to resolve them.
In the presidential race, Yoweri Museveni, 81, in power since 1986, is seeking a seventh successive victory as he faces a challenge from Bobi Wine, a charismatic 43-year-old pop star.
The result of the presidential vote will be announced by 4:00 pm on Saturday, the electoral commission has said.
