KAMPALA — Ugandan police fired tear gas in parts of the capital on Friday as small groups of protesters clashed with security forces and fires burned along roadsides, hours after the Electoral Commission announced provisional results showing President Yoweri Museveni with a commanding early lead in a tightly contested election overshadowed by an internet shutdown and opposition allegations of vote-rigging.
Footage from Kampala showed people running down streets as plumes of tear gas drifted over nearby neighborhoods, while police were seen dousing a roadside fire with water.
With vote tabulation still underway, provisional tallies cited in international and local reporting placed Museveni above 70% and opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, around the high teens to low 20s, depending on the share of results reported at the time. Reuters reported Museveni above 75% with about 59% of tallies counted, while AP cited “over 70%” for Museveni and 19% for Wine in early results.
The vote, held Thursday, was marred by delays and reported disruptions at polling sites, as well as a nationwide internet shutdown that rights groups said undermined transparency and citizens’ ability to monitor the process. Human Rights Watch urged authorities to immediately restore access, arguing blanket shutdowns violate fundamental rights and jeopardize election integrity.
Wine, a musician-turned-politician who has galvanized many younger voters, alleged “massive ballot stuffing” and claimed his polling agents were abducted or chased from stations, limiting his party’s ability to observe the count—claims that could not be independently verified in the immediate aftermath of the vote.
Security deployments remained heavy across Kampala and other urban centers. In central Uganda, Reuters reported at least seven people were killed overnight in Butambala amid violence and competing accounts from police and opposition figures over the circumstances.
Museveni, 81, has ruled Uganda since 1986 and is seeking to extend his tenure into a fifth decade, a longevity that critics say has entrenched militarized politics and narrowed civic space. Uganda has not seen a peaceful transfer of power since independence in 1962.
As counting continues, observers say the immediate test will be whether security forces can prevent further unrest and whether disputed results trigger legal challenges or a broader political confrontation.
