Uganda's Museveni wins seventh term in office

KAMPALA

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term in office on Jan. 17 after an election marred by violence and an internet shutdown, with African observers saying arrests and abductions had "instilled fear."

Museveni, 81, won 71.65 percent of the vote in Thursday's election, the Electoral Commission said, amid reports of at least 10 deaths and intimidation of the opposition and civil society.

His victory allows the former guerrilla fighter to extend his 40-year rule of the east African country.

He defeated Bobi Wine, 43, a former singer who styles himself the "ghetto president" after the Kampala slum areas where he grew up, but has faced relentless pressure including multiple arrests before his first run for the presidency in 2021.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, won 24.72 percent. He stated his "complete rejection of the fake results" and said he was in hiding after a raid by security forces on his home.

Police denied there had been any raid and said Wine was still at home, though they said there was a deployment around his residence.

There were major security deployments around the capital Kampala, as Uganda sought to prevent the sort of protests that have hit neighboring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months.

A spokesman for Wine's party, the National Unity Platform, told AFP the results were "a sham."

Wine has alleged "massive ballot stuffing" and attacks on his officials under cover of an internet blackout that has been in place since Jan. 13.

African election observers said on Jan. 17 they saw no evidence of ballot-stuffing but denounced "reports of intimidation, arrest and abductions" targeting the opposition and civil society.