Opposition supporters stormed out of a tallying center on Friday amid mounting allegations of vote rigging, as an early count from this week’s disputed election showed Uganda’s authoritarian President Yoweri Museveni on track to extend his three decades in office. Opposition supporters said the partial results showing 62% of the vote going to Mr. Museveni didn’t match results collected at individual polling stations by their operatives. “We know how Ugandans voted, and what is being announced is not what is on the ground,” said Ingrid Turinawe, a spokeswoman for the main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change. “We will not be party to this fraudulent process.” Electoral Commission head Badru Kiggundu rejected the allegations. “We are announcing results as sent to us from the districts,” he said, with about 15% of votes from Thursday’s contest counted. FDC leader Kizza Besigye was in a distant second with about 34% of the vote.
The dispute could further undermine an election already marred by delayed voting, a government blackout of social media that continued into Friday and the arrest of Mr. Museveni’s main opponent.
A spokesman for the ruling party said it had intelligence that the opposition planned to use social media to incite violent protests against the government. The opposition claimed that the interruption of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other services was an attempt to keep people from reporting voting irregularities and fraud.
Full Article: Uganda Opposition Disputes Election Tally – WSJ.