Uganda Election Results To Extending Museveni's 30-Year Rule
President Yoweri Museveni's three decades-long hold to power is unlikely to end any time soon following a controversial decision by the election commission to officially declare him the victor Saturday despite numerous accusations of rigging the election to perpetuate his rule by the political opposition.
According to a report by CNN, preliminary exit polls indicate that the incumbent President garnered 62% of the votes cast overshadowing the 34% votes received by his closest rival, Kizza Besigye. But the opposition leader who heads the Forum for Democratic Change refused to accept the election results and insisted on an independent counting of election results.
Besigye is currently under house arrest since Friday in his residence in Kampala on the pretext of preventing the opposition of sowing confusion and disorder with their plan of publicly announcing unauthorized election results.
"Please reject the temptation to ratify this sham election...Let us denounce this electoral theft by withdrawing our recognition of the regime and ceasing to cooperate with it. Let us have the strength and the courage to finish this struggle. I know deep in my heart that Uganda shall be free!" remarked Besigye as quoted saying by Al Jazeera news.
In a report by The Guardian, Yoweri Musevini has been in power since 1986 after waging a guerilla war for 10 years. The most recent elections is his fifth. Under his rule, Uganda has seen significant strides against HIV/Aids, restoring stability after years of armed conflict, and initiated economic growth through liberalization and attraction of foreign direct investments. However, the last ten years have been unpromising as seen in the reversal of earlier gains by his administration.
