Uganda police deny arrest of opposition leader Bobi Wine as President Museveni nears reelection
Opposition leader Wine has alleged mass fraud during Thursday's election, held under an internet blackout, and called on supporters to protest.
Ugandan police denied allegations by opposition leader Bobi Wine’s party that he had been arrested by soldiers as President Yoweri Museveni closed in on a landslide reelection.
Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) said on Friday night an army helicopter landed in his compound in Kampala and “forcibly took him away to an unknown destination”. The claim, however, could not be immediately verified.
National police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told a televised news conference that Wine was at his home and free to move.
“He is not under arrest,” Rusoke said on Saturday. Wine and representatives of the NUP could not be immediately reached for comment.
Wine has alleged mass fraud during Thursday’s election, held under an internet blackout, and called on supporters to protest.
His party said on Thursday he had been placed under effective house arrest.
The vote has been widely seen as a test of the 81-year-old Museveni’s political strength and ability to avoid the unrest that has rocked neighbours Tanzania and Kenya.
As of Saturday morning, Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, held a commanding lead with nearly 72 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said. Wine trailed with 24 percent, with more than 90 percent of polling stations counted.
After a campaign marred by clashes at opposition rallies and what the United Nations said was widespread repression and intimidation, voting passed peacefully on Thursday.
But violence broke out in the early hours of Friday in the town of Butambala, about 55 km (35 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala, according to a police spokesperson and a member of parliament from the area, who gave differing accounts of events.