afrol News, 27 February - According to the official final results from Uganda's Electoral Commission, President Yoweri Museveni won the country's first multiparty presidential elections in 26 years with 59 percent of the vote. His main challenger, Kizza Besigye, officially won 37 percent, but vehemently claims that the vote was rigged.

The Electoral Commission published its final results of the count already on Saturday, two days after millions of Ugandans has cast their votes in the country's first multi-party presidential and parliamentary elections since President Museveni came to power 20 years ago.

It was widely expected that the incumbent President would win the poll - not only due to his popularity among Ugandan voters. President Museveni's ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) was accused of running an unfair election campaign, which has included the imprisonment of opposition leader Besigye, denying the opposition access to the media and violently interrupting Mr Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) rallies. Several FDC supporters have been killed during the violence.

Mr Besigye himself was not surprised by the official outcome and claims it is a result of massive vote rigging. Today he urged FDC supporters to challenge the results, but not in a violent way. "We would like to call on our supporters to remain calm, and to ignore what the Electoral Commission has announced," Mr Besigye told reporters in Kampala. FDC supporters are sure Mr Besigye had won the election.

While FDC officials have stated that the poll was rigged and point to "massive irregularities", international election observers today only talked about "substantial advantages" for the ruling party and the incumbent. "The electoral process experienced a number of problems. The pre-election and campaign period was dominated by controversial accusations and court cases brought against Besigye," Max Van den Berg, head of the European Union election observers, said at a press conference in Kampala.

President Museveni, on the other hand, celebrated the victory knowing he had been the front runner in opinion polls during the entire campaign. "In the coming five years, we are going actually to take off and jump and fly because the basics are there," he told the nation after his victory had been announced.

The re-elected 62-year-old Ugandan President in particular referred to the war in the north, were the brutal and fanatic rebel leader Joseph Kony has attacked civilians for 20 years. "The conflict in the north has been finished. We have defeated Kony," the President declared optimistically. "Uganda, therefore, will be totally peaceful and concentrate on development," he added.

Also in the parliamentary election, President Museveni's NRM won a massive victory according to official results. In Uganda's western regions, the NRM won almost all parliamentary seats. In the war-ravaged north, on the other hand, the opposition won a majority of seats.

Supported by election observers and human rights groups, the Ugandan opposition however maintains its claim that the election was neither free nor fair. Mr Besigye and FDC party officials have not ruled out further steps to challenge President Museveni's re-election. Angry FDC supporters have so far controlled their temper, guided by Mr Besigye's call for calm. Nobody wants further street battles and instability, the opposition points out.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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