Uganda’s EC commissioners, led by chairman Simon Byabakama, walk after announing initial results
At least seven people were killed in violence overnight in central Uganda, police said on Friday, following national elections that looked set to extend veteran President Yoweri Museveni’s rule into a fifth decade.
Results announced by the electoral commission showed Museveni with over 75% of votes in Thursday’s presidential election, based on tallies from 59% of polling stations. His main challenger, popular singer Bobi Wine, trailed on about 21% and the remaining votes were split among six other candidates.
After a campaign marred by clashes at opposition rallies and what the United Nations said was widespread repression and intimidation, voting passed peacefully on Thursday.
But violence broke out overnight in the town of Butambala, about 55 km (35 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala, according to a police spokesperson and a member of parliament from the area, who gave differing accounts of events.
Deadly violence
Local police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe said machete-wielding opposition “goons” organised by local MP Muwanga Kivumbi attacked a police station and vote-tallying centre.
“Security responded in self-defence because these people came in large numbers. Police fired in self-defence,” she told Reuters, adding that 25 people were arrested.
Kivumbi, however, told Reuters the victims were killed at around 3 a.m. (midnight GMT) inside his house, where they were waiting for the results from the election for his parliamentary seat to be announced.
“They killed 10 people inside my house,” he said. “There were people inside the garage who were waiting for the results to celebrate my victory.”
“They broke the front door and began shooting inside the garage. It was a massacre.”
He said security forces had earlier dispersed crowds outside but disputed the police’s assertion that the deaths occurred during clashes between the two sides.
Test of museveni’s political strength
The election has been 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 neighbours Tanzania and Kenya.
Museveni had told reporters after casting his ballot on Thursday that he expected to win with 80% of the vote “if there’s no cheating”.
Wine alleged mass fraud during the election, which was held under an internet blackout that authorities said was needed to prevent “misinformation”, and called on supporters to protest.
Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party wrote on its X account late on Thursday that the military and police had surrounded Wine’s house in the capital Kampala, “effectively placing him under house arrest”.
National police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told Reuters he was not aware of Wine being placed under house arrest.
Tumushabe, the police spokesperson, said she was not aware of an incident at Kivumbi’s house, which she said was close to the police station.
Reuters was not immediately able to independently confirm the circumstances of the violence.
