Uganda’s election commission on Saturday declared incumbent Yoweri Museveni the winner of the presidential election, extending his 35-year rule as his main rival alleged fraud and urged citizens to reject the result.
Museveni won 5.85 million votes, or 58.64 percent, of the total while main opposition candidate Bobi Wine won 3.48 million votes or 34.83 percent, the electoral commission said in a televised news conference.
Wine, 38, galvanised young Ugandans with his calls for political change and pledged to end what he calls dictatorship and widespread corruption.
Security personnel and police were out in force patrolling the capital, Kampala, on Saturday. The government ordered the internet shut down the day before the election, and the blackout was still in place.
Wine, a singer-turned-lawmaker whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said on Friday he had video proof of voting fraud, and would share the videos as soon as internet connections were restored.
Security forces had sealed off a wide perimeter around Wine’s sprawling compound on Saturday and told international journalists they were not permitted to enter, witnesses said.
