Uganda’s president of the past 24 years, Yoweri Museveni, has been re-elected for another term following last Friday’s elections. According to the result declared by the Electoral Commission, Museveni obtained 5.4 million votes or 68% of the total, compared to 2.1 million votes obtained by his nearest rival, Kizza Besigye. Votes from a number of polling stations have not yet been counted, but Museveni’s lead is unassailable.
Not everyone is as happy with the process and outcome as the president. According to Charles Onyango-Obbo, voter registration in Uganda is managed very poorly. According to one election monitor, 140,000 dead people voted at the last election. More than 5,000 of the registered voters were more than 110 years of age, and 259 were below the minimum age of 18. 500,000 new voters were permitted to vote in the current elections without a voter’s card.
In many areas, there was considerable pressure on the returning officers to reach a particular result. The pressure became too great for the Sironko District returning officer Mr Baine, who ran away “for security reasons”. Earlier, Mr Baine had ordered the arrest of four presiding officers for alleged electoral malpractices. The Tororo District returning officer Mr Ngobi was arrested after he was attacked by supporters of an unsuccessful candidate.
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[…] week, President Museveni was elected for another term. An article by Nick Young in this week’s The East African ponders the extent to which aid from […]