{"id":2209,"date":"2021-01-14T16:32:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T16:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/uganda\/?p=2209"},"modified":"2021-01-14T16:01:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T16:01:55","slug":"ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign","title":{"rendered":"Ugandans vote in tense election after violent campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Voters in Uganda on Thursday morning begun casting their ballots in one of the country\u2019s most consequential elections in over three decades.<\/p>\n

The voters, will decide either to extend the rein of President Yoweri Museveni to a sixth term, or vote in pop-star-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine.<\/p>\n

Museveni, the 76-year old president of the East African state and who has been at the helm for over 30 years, hopes to use the election, and a possible win, to cement his legacy as one of the country\u2019s longest serving rulers.<\/p>\n

The Ugandan president is banking on the vastly rural population \u2014 where he enjoys a near fanatic support \u2014 to tilt the tide in his favour and rein in on the growing popularity of Wine, who has been consolidating a strong opposition against Museveni in the past couple of months.<\/p>\n

Museveni has been campaigning on his track record of transforming lives, especially those of the rural population, and improving access to healthcare among other things to win the vote. He has often described the opposition against his leadership as a populist move aimed at exciting the youthful population but with little hope of success.<\/p>\n

Stood the test of time<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Resistance Movement has stood the test of time. We have correctly diagnosed Uganda’s problems and prescribed the correct solutions. We have resolved many bottlenecks to Uganda’s progress and will continue to do so. It is why we are days away from victory,\u201d Mr Museveni said in an earlier interview.<\/p>\n

Wine has been rallying supporters against the leadership of President Museveni, whom he has likened to a dictator and the enemy of the Ugandan people.<\/p>\n

The opposition leader is banking on the youthful and urban population of the East African country to defeat Museveni in the polls amidst a growing crackdown by the police.<\/p>\n

During the just concluded election campaigns, scores have been arrested and others injured in the confrontations that have already attracted the condemnation of international observers.<\/p>\n

Tension between the police and the opposition has been on the rise, with accusations of intimidation and harassment of key opposition figures in the past couple of months.<\/p>\n

Uphill task<\/b><\/p>\n

Some observers believe that while the opposition against Museveni has been on the rise, defeating him in the election may be an uphill task.<\/p>\n

Mr Francis Kibirige, an analyst and researcher on Ugandan politics, said that while the writing has been on the wall for Museveni for a while now, his popularity, the power of incumbency and a fragmented opposition may work to his advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is still not clear what the results of this election will be. But what is certain is that no one can win only on the youth vote, the gender vote and all. You only win on the regional vote, meaning that one must pick votes from every place in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kibirige, a member of Afrobarometer \u2014 a Pan-African research institution \u2014 said that the only hope for the opposition is to try to tilt the margins away from Museveni as much as possible by rallying as many people as possible to vote in the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other challenge is that in Uganda, there is also a considerable number that do not have identity cards, which are the essentials in voting. The polling station locator are also not accessible to some, and so you may end up having people turning up at the wrong stations and being turned away to go find their voting stations which may be distances away,\u201d Kibirige added.<\/p>\n

Wine has likened the leadership of Museveni to nothing but a disappointment, not only to the older generation of Ugandas, but also to the younger ones.<\/p>\n

Arrests<\/b><\/p>\n

Hundreds of Wine\u2019s supporters and members of the civil society have been arrested in the past months, drawing criticism from the international community and human rights groups.<\/p>\n

The Ugandan police force has been accused of intimidating opposition figures in including members of the civil society and journalists as the country votes in one of the hotly contested elections in decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneral Museveni needs to tell the world what he intends to do in this election \u2014that he should arrest my entire campaign team, my assistants and supporters. Last night, the military yet again arrested so many friends and comrades, two days to the election! Others living as fugitives,\u201d said Wine on Monday.<\/p>\n

But Museveni, in his campaign manifesto, praised his track record as one that had the voters and the people of Uganda at its centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Resistance Movement stays committed to improving and bettering our country’s health facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur manifesto is the best. Only The National Resistance Movement guarantees you peace and stability. We have the surest plan for economic transformation and prosperity. Uganda is on course to middle income status. It is why most Ugandans agree with us. We are certain of victory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Voters in Uganda on Thursday morning begun casting their ballots in one of the country\u2019s most consequential elections in over three decades. The voters, will decide either to extend the rein of President Yoweri Museveni to a sixth term, or vote in pop-star-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine. Museveni, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-2209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nUgandans vote in tense election after violent campaign - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Voters in Uganda on Thursday morning begun casting their ballots in one of the country\u2019s most consequential elections in ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ugandans vote in tense election after violent campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Voters in Uganda on Thursday morning begun casting their ballots in one of the country\u2019s most consequential elections in ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-14T16:32:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/01\/img-60006ad962143.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ugandans vote in tense election after violent campaign\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-14T16:32:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign\"},\"wordCount\":828,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/01\/img-60006ad962143.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/ugandans-vote-in-tense-election-after-violent-campaign\",\"name\":\"Ugandans vote in tense election after violent campaign - 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