Uganda’s long-time leader takes lead in provisional results
Ugandan police surround offices of main opposition leader
(about 4 hours later)
KAMPALA, Uganda — Provisional results released Friday showed Uganda’s long-time president with an early lead over his main rival in the country’s presidential elections.
KAMPALA, Uganda — An aide to Uganda’s main opposition presidential candidate says his office has been surrounded by heavily armed police, as voting and vote-counting continued.
President Yoweri Museveni has nearly 62 percent of the vote, far ahead of his nearest rival Kizza Besigye, with 33 percent, according to partial results announced by Uganda’s election commission.
Ingrid Turinawe said Friday that Kizza Besigye, the main rival to President Yoweri Museveni, was holding a meeting with other leaders of his party when police tried to force themselves into the premises.
The results account for about 23 percent of all polling stations across the country. Final results are expected to be announced Saturday.
She said Besigye’s supporters resisted the police, who took positions outside the headquarters of the Forum for Democratic Change party.
The elections were marred by delays in delivering voting materials, especially in areas seen as opposition strongholds, as well as a government shutdown of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
She said Besigye’s party is running its own tally center and has discovered that some or the results being announced by the election commission are a “concoction.”
Besigye’s supporters said the delays were deliberate and were aimed at favoring Museveni, whose rival is popular in Kampala. The head of the Commonwealth Observer Group, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, called the long delays “absolutely inexcusable.”
She said the commission is announcing results according to tallies from polling stations, not according to districts as had been expected.
Voting is taking place Friday at 36 polling stations in Kampala and the neighboring district of Wakiso where no voting took place on Thursday. More than 15 million people were registered to vote, with members of parliament also up for election as well as the president.
Besigye was briefly arrested late Thursday after visiting a house in Kampala where he suspected ballot-stuffing was taking place. Police said the house was a genuine security facility and accused Besigye of trespassing on government property.
Museveni, 71, took power by force in 1986 and pulled Uganda out of years of chaos. He is a key U.S. ally on security matters, especially in Somalia. But his critics worry he may want to rule for life, and accuse him of using the security forces to intimidate and harass the opposition.
Besigye, 59, was Museveni’s personal physician during a bush war and served as deputy interior minister in Museveni’s first Cabinet. He broke with the president in 1999, saying Museveni was no longer a democrat.
He said ahead of the elections that he did not believe they would be free or fair.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
