Reuters
—
At least seven people were killed in overnight violence in central Uganda, police said Friday, following a national election that is expected to extend veteran President Yoweri Museveni’s rule to 50 years.
Museveni won more than 75% of the votes in Thursday’s presidential election, based on 59% of polling stations, according to results released by the electoral commission. His main challenger, popular singer Bobi Wine, lost by about 21%, with the remaining votes split between six other candidates.
Thursday’s vote passed peacefully after an election campaign marred by clashes at opposition rallies and widespread repression and intimidation by the United Nations.
But violence erupted overnight in the town of Butambara, about 55 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala, according to a police spokesperson and the region’s parliamentarians, who each gave different accounts of events.
Local police spokeswoman Lydia Tumusabe said machete-wielding opposition “thugs” organized by local lawmaker Mwanga Kivumbi attacked police stations and vote counting centres.
“The security services responded in self-defense because these people came in large numbers. The police fired in self-defense,” she told Reuters, adding that 25 people were arrested.
But Kivumbi told Reuters the victims were killed at around 3am (midnight Japan time) inside their home, where they were waiting for the results of the election for his seat to be announced.
“They killed 10 people inside my house,” he said. “There were people in the garage waiting for the results to celebrate my victory.”
“They broke down the front door and started shooting inside the garage. It was a massacre.”
He said security forces first dispersed the crowd outside, but disputed police claims that the deaths occurred during clashes between the two sides.
Police spokesperson Tumushabe said he was not aware of any incident at Kivumbi’s home, which is near the police station.
Reuters could not independently confirm the circumstances of the violence.
The election is widely seen as a test of the 81-year-old Museveni’s political strength and ability to avoid the kind of unrest that has rocked neighboring Tanzania and Kenya.
Museveni told reporters after Thursday’s vote that he expected to win with 80% of the vote “barring any fraud”.
Mr Wine called on his supporters to protest, alleging massive fraud during the election, which was held under an internet blackout that authorities said was necessary to prevent “misinformation”.
Mr Wine’s party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), wrote on its X account late on Thursday that the military and police surrounded Mr Wine’s home in the capital Kampala and “effectively placed him under house arrest”.
National police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told Reuters he was unaware Wine was under house arrest.
