2016 Uganda Elections: Museveni declared president

The Electoral Commission Chairman has announced President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as the winner of the 2016 presidential elections with 5,617,503 votes, a percentage of 60.7.

After a tense campaign and a jumbled election, President Museveni rolled to a disputed reelection Saturday, winning a fifth chance to repair the nation’s economy and fulfill the promises of hope and a fundamental change he made 30 years ago.

Although Mr Museveni, 71, won a clear victory, his popular vote margin in several battleground districts was very thin and results from 1,787 polling stations were left out because of the 48-hour- deadline.

Mr Museveni’s disputed win gives him another five-year elective term, setting the incumbent on course to lead Uganda for a cumulative 35 years of uninterrupted rule since 1986.

Results from an election described by leaders of the main opposition party—the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) as “a fraud” gave Mr Museveni 65 per cent of 8,971,885 votes cast.

Out of 15, 277, 198 voters in a political contest smudged by unprecedented delays, pockets of violence and reports of ballot stuffing in some parts of the country, 10 million turned up. A total of 5,575,461 voters either chose to stay home or were disenfranchised as a result of the delays that marred the elections.

Dr Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential contender and the FDC candidate garnered 3,270,290 votes, representing 35.37 per cent of the total votes cast. This result is however, an improvement from 26 per cent Dr Besigye scored during the 2011 general elections.

Dr Besigye who contested on Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) flag then, a loose coalition of opposition parties obtained 2,064, 963 (representing 26 per cent) votes while Democratic Party’s Norbert Mao was in third position having polled 147,708 votes.