Uganda's Museveni declared election winner

By Halima Athumani

KAMPALA, Uganda

President Yoweri Museveni has retained the leadership of Uganda, extending his three-decade rule by another five years.

Electoral Commission head Badru Kiggundu declared Museveni the winner on Saturday.

Museveni garnered over 5.6 million votes -- 60.75 percent of the total cast.

He was followed by the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC)’s Kizza Besigye who won over 3.2 million votes, making up 35.37 percent.

However, the results have been rejected by the opposition. FDC President, retired general Mugisha Muntu, has called upon all Ugandans and the international community to “reject and condemn the fraud that has been committed and to expose it to the fullest extent possible”.

Besigye, the FDC’s presidential candidate, was arrested three times during the electoral process. He remains under house arrest.

Muntu has warned that people should be psychologically prepared for arbitrary arrests which he says will follow the result.

The FDC’s criticism of the result came just minutes after European Union and Commonwealth observers spoke out on the election process.

European Parliament delegation chief Jo Leinen said: “It is essential that the challenges facing Uganda will be resolved within the democratic process in a peaceful manner.”

The Commonwealth observer mission, led by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, said that the presidential, parliamentary and local elections were marked by a lack of a level playing field:

“[There was] an increased prevalence of money in politics, alleged misuse of state resources, inequitable media coverage and question-marks over the secrecy of the ballot and the competence of the Electoral Commission to manage the process.

Obasanjo said the elections “fell short of meeting key democratic benchmarks”.