Ugandan president secures landslide victory

Yoweri Museveni has said the opposition would have been “badly embarrassed” if 10 million more of his supporters had turned out to vote

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has secured a seventh term following a landslide victory in the country’s January 15 elections. He has pledged to maintain peace and step up efforts to eradicate poverty during his new mandate.

According to official results announced on Saturday, Museveni won 71.65% of the vote, while his main rival, Bobi Wine, trailed with 24.72%. Voter turnout was 52.5%.

“The opposition was lucky because 10 million of my people didn’t turn up. They would have been embarrassed badly,” the president said in a speech a day after his victory.

Wine, a 43-year-old former pop star whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has rejected the results, alleging “massive ballot stuffing.” In a video message posted on X on Saturday, he said he fled his home to escape arrest by security forces, who had raided his house where he and his wife were being detained.

He urged supporters to protest to pressure the authorities to release the “rightful results” and to “resist any effort of subduing their voice.”

READ MORE: Incumbent takes commanding lead in Ugandan election

An African Union observation mission, including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), said the election was conducted in a “calm” environment and that the counting process was “orderly and transparent.”

The mission, however, expressed concern over reports of “harassment, intimidation and arrest of opposition leaders, candidates, supporters, media and civic society actors, as well as the suspension of non-governmental organizations… and the internet shut down.”

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Russian observers, part of the more than 1,600 international and regional monitors of the election, also noted that voting was held systematically and openly.

Uganda gained independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Museveni became president in 1986 after the overthrow of Milton Obote’s government. He won the first multiparty elections in 2006 and has remained in power through subsequent elections and constitutional amendments that removed presidential term limits.

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Supporters of the 81-year-old leader credit him for the relative peace and stability that has made Uganda a destination for those fleeing violence in neighboring states.

On Sunday, Museveni accused the opposition of inciting violence during the elections. He said at least seven supporters of a losing parliamentary candidate from Wine’s party were killed by police after attacking a polling station with machetes in Butambala.

“Either peacefully or unpeacefully, we shall maintain peace in Uganda,” he said, warning “traitors.”