UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of last Thursday president poll, paving the way for his seventh term in office.
The Electoral Commission declared the 81-year-old winner with 71.65 per cent of the vote on Saturday, allowing him to extend his 40-year rule of the East African country.
The ICIR reported that the election was disrupted by violence and an internet shutdown.
There was a heavy police presence around the capital, Kampala as security forces sought to prevent the sort of protests that have hit neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months.
Former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, representing election observers, told reporters in Kampala that the incidents “instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process.”
Jonathan said the shutdown of the internet “disrupted effective observation” and “increased suspicion” but that the overall conduct of the polls on election day was “peaceful”.
Provisional results showed that Museveni’s ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, had secured a commanding lead in parliamentary seats, even as vote counting was still underway.
Museveni, a former rebel leader who seized power in 1986, has entrenched his grip on the state and security forces, ruthlessly suppressing political opposition over nearly four decades in office.
Kizza Besigye, another leading opposition figure who ran unsuccessfully against Museveni four times, was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and taken back to Uganda, where he is now facing an ongoing treason trial in a military court.
The election period was also marked by reports of violence against opposition groups.
Museveni defeated 43-year-old former singer-turned-politician, Bobi Wine, with 24.72 per cent.
Since entering politics, Wine has come under relentless pressure, with multiple arrests preceding his first presidential run in 2021.
On Friday, Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said he was under house arrest, and his party later wrote on X that he had been “forcibly taken” by an army helicopter from his compound.
The ICIR reported that the Ugandan police and army denied the allegations.
National police spokesperson, Kituuma Rusoke, said “He is not under arrest,” noting that Wine was at his home and free to move.
Similarly, the Army spokesperson, Chris Magezi, denied the claim, noting that “the rumours of his so-called arrest are baseless and unfounded.”
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.