{"id":8835,"date":"2026-01-16T12:15:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=8835"},"modified":"2026-01-16T12:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:15:47","slug":"incumbent-president-museveni-takes-strong-lead-in-uganda-election-count-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=8835","title":{"rendered":"Incumbent President Museveni takes strong lead in Uganda election count | News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Museveni is credited with 76 percent in early results; violence reported with opponent Bobi Wine under house arrest.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>President Yoweri Museveni was reported to hold a commanding lead as officials conducted a vote count in Uganda\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n<p>Based on tallies from nearly half of polling stations, Uganda\u2019s Electoral Commission reported on Friday that the longstanding ruler of the Central African nation had taken 76.25 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Meanwhile, Museveni\u2019s main challenger, pop star-turned-politician\u00a0Bobi Wine, had gained just 19.85 percent, and was under house arrest, according to his party, as reports of violence began to emerge.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining votes were split among six \u200dother candidates, the Electoral Commission said.<\/p>\n<p>Museveni, who has held office since 1986, \u2060told reporters after casting his ballot on Thursday, that he expected to win with 80 percent of the vote \u201cif there\u2019s no cheating\u201d. Victory would hand the former rebel leader a seventh term in office.<\/p>\n<p>Wine, whose legal name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has alleged massive fraud during the election, which was held under an internet blackout, provoking criticism from international institutions.<\/p>\n<p>His National Unity \u200bPlatform (NUP) party wrote on its X account late on Thursday that \u200cthe military and police had surrounded Wine\u2019s house in the capital, Kampala, \u201ceffectively placing him under house arrest\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told the Reuters news agency that he was not aware of Wine being placed under house arrest.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"repression-and-intimidation\">\u2018Repression and intimidation\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The United Nations human rights office said last week that the election was being held in an environment of \u201cwidespread repression and intimidation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>During the campaign, Wine\u2019s rallies were repeatedly interrupted by security forces firing \u200dtear gas and bullets, killing at least one \u200cperson and arresting hundreds. The government said they were responding to lawless behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>The vote was also plagued by widespread delays as some polling stations remained closed for up to four hours after the scheduled 7am [04:00 GMT] start time due to \u201ctechnical challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Recent political violence in neighbouring Tanzania and Kenya has amplified fears about unrest in Uganda, which has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>Museveni has served the third-longest term of any African leader.<\/p>\n<p>Wine had called on his supporters during Thursday\u2019s voting to protest.<\/p>\n<p>There were no signs of demonstrations during voting hours, but violence was reported to have broken out overnight in the town of Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) southwest of Kampala.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Agather Atuhaire, a prominent human rights activist, said soldiers and police had killed at least 10 opposition supporters who had gathered at the house of parliamentarian Muwanga Kivumbi to follow the early results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">A local police spokesperson disputed that account, telling Reuters that opposition \u201cgoons\u201d organised by Kivumbi had attacked a police station carrying machetes, axes and boxes of matches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">The police had fired in self-defence and there were deaths and injuries, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Museveni is credited with 76 percent in early results; violence reported with opponent Bobi Wine under house arrest. President Yoweri Museveni was reported to hold a commanding lead as officials conducted a vote count in Uganda\u2019s elections. Based on tallies from nearly half of polling stations, Uganda\u2019s Electoral Commission reported on Friday that the longstanding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}