Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine has rejected early provisional results of Thursday’s presidential election, dismissing them as “fake” and accusing the electoral authorities of failing to explain the source of the tallies that show President Yoweri Museveni with a commanding lead.
In a statement on Friday, Wine said Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama could not account for where the announced figures were coming from, despite questions from opposition agents at the national tally centre.
“Ignore the fake results being announced by Byabakama,” Wine said. “Our agents at the tally centre are asking him for the source of these results, and the regime enabler can’t say a thing.”
Provisional results released by the Electoral Commission show Museveni, the National Resistance Movement candidate, leading with 76.25 per cent of the vote from 22,758 polling stations.
Wine is reported to be trailing with 1,312,047 votes, representing 19.85 per cent of the ballots counted so far. The figures cover 44.85 per cent of the country’s 50,739 polling stations, where 21,649,067 Ugandans were registered to vote in the January 15 election.
Wine said the announced figures did not reflect the will of the electorate, insisting that “the people of Uganda will have the final say.” He accused the government of attempting to suppress dissent through intimidation and force following the vote.
The opposition leader said soldiers surrounded his home shortly after he cast his ballot, placing him under what he described as house arrest. According to Wine, security personnel jumped over his fence and entered his compound, and his residence remains under siege, with no one allowed in or out.
“Yesterday, after casting my ballot, the military deployed all around my home to place me under house arrest. These criminals even jumped over the fence and entered our compound,” he said, accusing the authorities of acting out of fear after “stealing” the vote.
Following the 2021 election, in which he garnered 35 per cent of the vote, Wine was confined to his home for several days by security forces.
Wine also accused security forces of killing ten opposition supporters at the home of opposition MP Muwanga Kivumbi in Butambala on Thursday evening. He said the attack followed the abduction of opposition leaders in other regions, describing the government as a “criminal regime” that had “gone insane.”
“Last evening, they attacked our Deputy President for Buganda, Muwanga Kivumbi and killed ten of our supporters who were at his home. This, after they abducted our Deputy President, Western Region and attacked our Deputy President, Northern Region,” said Wine.
Despite the government-imposed internet blackout, the Electoral Commission said vote counting has continued using a private transmission system. Commission chief Simon Byabakama said the final results are expected within 48 hours, before 5 pm local time on Saturday (14:00 GMT).
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