Museveni wins Uganda's presidential poll for 5th term

President Yoweri Museveni has won Uganda’s presidential election, the electoral commission said yesterday, cementing his 30-year grip on power in the East African nation.

“The commission declares Yoweri Kaguta Museveni elected President of the Republic of Uganda,” commission chairman Badru Kiggundu said. Musev-eni won 60.8 percent of the vote, while his main challenger Kizza Besigye won 35.4 percent.

European Union and Commonwealth observers have criticised the poll and Besigye’s camp had disputed preliminary results.

Museveni, 71, has presided over strong economic growth, but faces mounting accusations at home and abroad of cracking down on dissent and failing to tackle rampant corruption in the nation of 37 million people.

Besigye’s arrest, his third of the week, contributed to chaos in parts of the capital Kampala on Friday. Police in riot gear had set off stun grenades and fired teargas at Besigye supporters, who responded by hurling rocks and erecting street barricades. The streets were calm on Saturday morning.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called Museveni on Friday to voice concern over Besigye’s detention, harassment of opposition figures and the shutdown of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

“(Kerry) urged President Museveni to rein in the police and security forces, noting that such action calls into question Uganda’s commitment to a transparent and credible election process free from intimidation,” the US State Department said in a statement late on Friday.

Besigye was arrested as he tried to hold a press conference at the headquarters of his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party to release their own poll results. One senior FDC official said there were “glaring discrepancies” with official figures.