Ugandan challenger Bobi Wine claims he won presidential election ‘by far’ despite early results
- The former reggae singer turned politician has been the main rival to President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986
- He dismissed provisional results from 29 per cent of polling stations giving Museveni an early lead with 63 per cent of the vote
The 38-year-old former ragga singer said his party’s polling agents were beaten and chased away in parts of northern and western Uganda, that ballot boxes were opened and stuffed, and that some voters were only given ballots for the parliamentary election.
Museveni, 76, is seeking a sixth term after almost four decades in power, and the youthful Wine has emerged his main rival in a country where most have known only one president.
The internet remained down for a third day as vote counting continued from Thursday’s poll, with provisional results from 29 per cent of polling stations giving Museveni an early lead of 63.9 per cent while Wine trailed with 28 per cent.
“I am very confident that we defeated the dictator by far. I call upon all Ugandans to reject the blackmail. We have certainly won the election and we’ve won it by far,” Wine told journalists. “Whatever is being declared is a complete sham we reject it and we dissociate ourselves with it.”
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, listed a host of irregularities in different districts and promised to provide video evidence once the internet was restored. He said he would announce a strategy in coming hours.