Uganda's Museveni wins presidential election by landslide to extend 40-year rule

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term in office on Saturday after an election marred by an internet shutdown.

Museveni, 81, won 71.65 percent of the vote in Thursday's election, the Electoral Commission said.

His ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, also had a commanding lead in parliamentary seats, according to provisional results. Ballots were still being counted.

His victory allows him to extend his 40-year rule of the East African country.

He defeated Bobi Wine, 43, a former singer-turned-politician who won 24.72 percent and said he was in hiding on Saturday after a raid by security forces on his home.

Opponent on the run

He stated his "complete rejection of the fake results" and said he was on the run after the raid on his home on Friday night.

"I want to confirm that I managed to escape from them," Wine posted on X on Saturday. Currently, I am not at home, although my wife and other family members remain under house arrest.

"I know that these criminals are looking for me everywhere and I am trying my best to keep safe," he added.

There was a heavy police presence around the capital, Kampala, AFP reports.

Police denied they had raided Wine's home but said they had "controlled access in areas we feel are security hotspots", adding they believed the opposition leader was still at home.

"We have not necessarily denied people accessing him but we cannot tolerate instances where people use his residence to gather and... incite violence," police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told reporters.

Observers denounce ‘intimidation’

African election observers said on Saturday they saw no evidence of ballot stuffing but denounced "reports of intimidation, arrest and abductions" targeting the opposition and civil society.

This "instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process", former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan told reporters in Kampala.

He was representing election observers from the African Union, as well as regional bodies COMESA and IGAD for east and southern Africa.

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".

Poll-related violence

There were reports of election-related violence against the opposition.

Muwanga Kivumbi, member of parliament for Wine's party in the Butambala area of central Uganda, told AFP's Nairobi office by phone that security forces had killed 10 of his campaign agents after storming his home.

Police gave a different account, saying an "unspecified number" of people had been "put out of action" when opposition members planned to overrun and burn down a local tally centre and police station.