Ugandan Presidential Candidate Bobi Wine Alleges Fraud in National Elections

Ugandan Presidential Candidate Bobi Wine in a protest against election corruption alleged against sitting President Yoweri Museveni. Source.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was reelected for a 6th term earlier this month, but his political opponent, Bobi Wine, has come forward accusing the President of abusing democracy. Wine is encouraging the people of Uganda to nonviolently protest the election results, and is waiting to announce whether or not he will challenge the results in court. 

Prior to the opening of the polls there were multiple acts of violence leaving 40 individuals dead and others wounded. The government took multiple measures to limit the media’s presence and opposition candidates were harassed by authorities. Museveni won the election with 58% of the vote while Wine had 34% of the votes according to the results. Currently, Wine has been placed under house arrest as more protests break out. Museveni denies any involvement in Wine’s house arrest, but Wine has been vocal on Twitter exclaiming he is being refused to leave his home because he actually defeated President Museveni.

Around the time of election day, Museveni banned multiple social media websites such as Facebook because they were perceived as “arrogant.” This among other violent and intense demonstrations has led to more suspicions surrounding the election results. 

Bobi Wine appeared to be a strong candidate to challenge the long-term president. Wine was formerly a popular singer who became active in Ugandan politics. Now, he is going to great lengths to vocalize his anger following the election results. Prior to opening the polls, Wine’s campaign was repeatedly abused with officials arresting and beating Wine and detaining members of Wine’s campaign team and followers. The government claims these intense measures were taken to stifle the spread of COVID-19 in Uganda. Now, Wine has come forward claimiing he has evidence of fraudulent behavior in the election. He is waiting to reveal this information.

Museveni, on the other hand, has been in control of Uganda since he took power in 1986. This was soon after Uganda was declared an independent nation from Britain who exacted a brutal colonial occupation in the country until 1962. Museveni, promising to introduce competitive politics and a more democratic form of government, led Uganda to have open elections. Although he introduced democratic elections, Museveni has been manipulating them since they began in 2005. His main tactic in doing so has been to claim that political opponents are foreign invaders attempting to permeate Ugandan politics. He has most recently levied this charge against Wine.

In Museveni’s victory speech, he declared the election as “the most ‘cheating-free’ election since 1962”. Much of the debate of fraudulence surrounds the voting machines themselves, which some claim were being shut down or turned off as the election was carried out. Wine also asserts that police officials were restricting his election committee from overseeing the election process as people went in and voted. Of the 18 million people that were registered to vote in the election, only around 10 million made it to the polls to cast their vote. 

The climate in Uganda is still chaotic, as citizens come to terms with Wine’s accusations and the election results. The EU and the United States have both expressed interest amidst the reports of violence leading up to the election, and accusations surfacing after the results. President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, stated he is concerned about the house arrest. As things develop in the nation the world can only hope that the violence will cease.