Preliminary findings from Uganda’s disputed presidential election indicate that the current President Yoweri Museveni is already taking a huge lead over the others, as the counting starts amid very serious doubts concerning the fairness of the elections, voter suppression, and limited communication.
The initial counts made public by the Electoral Commission late on Friday night have caused alarm even across political lines and have received very heated responses from the opposition leaders and human rights organizations.
The first partial count by the Electoral Commission shows that out of only 133 polling stations from the whole of Uganda where almost 51,000 polling stations are located, Museveni has gained 61.7 percent of the valid votes counted so far while his main rival, opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, who is popularly known as Bobi Wine, is at about 33.6 percent. The remaining share of the votes in this early snapshot has gone to other candidates.
The early lead has been gained amidst the very controversial electoral scenario which has been characterized by a total internet shutdown across the country, the majority of biometric voting machines did not work on Election Day, and there were reports of intimidation in the crucial areas. The officers in charge of the polling admitted that technical problems compelled them to manually process votes in a number of districts, and critics claim that this could change the turnout and result reporting.
Museveni, who is 81 years old and has been ruling for almost four decades, exercised his voting rights in the western part of Uganda on Thursday and he has always been talking about victory as a fait accompli saying that the challenges in the process will not stop his campaign.
However, the fact that there was no fully operating system for the authentication of voters, coupled with the communication blackout, has led civil society observers and international rights monitors to scrutinize the situation immediately.
The opposition people have already such referred to the preliminary figures as the result of the manipulations of the ruling party. The camp of Bobi Wine has spoken about the existence of irregularities and has stated that the blackout and the technical problems have materially affected the turnout of voters, especially in the urban and youth-dominated areas which are usually considered as the opposition’s strongholds.
Still, the analysts have warned that the preliminary results which are based on a small number of total polling stations might not show the true final outcome.
According to the laws, the complete presidential result has to be announced within 48 hours after the closing of the polls. But the combination of electoral tension, limited communication, and different early trends has left the political future of Uganda in doubt—legal challenges have already been anticipated once the full count is released.
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