KAMPALA — Uganda’s incumbent President Yoweri Museveni took a strong lead in partial results from Thursday’s presidential election, the electoral commission figures showed.
The data published on Friday morning put Museveni in front with 76% of the votes, based on results from 45% of the country’s polling stations. Opposition leader Bobi Wine, who is reportedly under house arrest, trails Museveni with around 20%.
The 81-year-old is seeking to extend his rule beyond four decades as the opposition reports “widespread ballot stuffing” in the elections held under internet blackout.
On Thursday evening, Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party said that the military and police had surrounded the popstar’s house in the capital, Kampala, “effectively placing him and his wife under house arrest”.
“Security officers have unlawfully jumped over the perimeter fence and are now erecting tents within his compound,” the party posted on X. The authorities are yet to comment.
BBC reports that voting was delayed by up to four hours on Thursday in many polling stations around the country as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines, used to verify voters’ identity, did not work properly.
Some have linked the problems to the network outage.