The head of Uganda’s electoral body, Simon Byabakama, has said he has received threats warning him against declaring certain presidential candidates the winners of Thursday’s election.
Byabakama, however, insisted he would not be intimidated by these warnings, which he said came from unnamed senior state officials. Responding to a widely shared video, in which a presidential aide claimed the electoral commission would never declare opposition candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, as president, Byabakama stated: “Some people say if you don’t declare so-and-so as president, you will see. I tell them that I am not in the business of donating votes.”
President Yoweri Museveni, 81, who has ruled Uganda for nearly 40 years, is seeking a seventh term. Bobi Wine, 43, a pop star turned politician, is his main challenger, attempting to unseat Museveni for the second time after finishing runner-up in 2021. Six other candidates are also contesting the election, in which about 21.6 million voters are registered.
Campaigning has been marked by disruptions of opposition events, including the detention of activists and police breaking up rallies.
At the Electoral Commission headquarters in Kampala, Byabakama said he was not concerned about threats from what he called “idle people”: “You can see from my demeanour that fear is a word that does not exist in my vocabulary. Only the will of voters and the law will guide this process,” he said.
The video, shared by the Daily Monitor newspaper, shows Yiga Kisakyamukama, a special presidential assistant, claiming that Museveni would never leave power through the ballot: “Don’t expect, don’t even think, that Simon Byabakama would announce Bobi Wine. President Museveni, who is on the chair, will remain on the chair. Never think that Museveni would leave power through voting. No, no, no – don’t waste our time.”
Byabakama emphasized that Uganda’s laws, not individual opinions or threats, would determine the election outcome. “The law says that the candidate who receives more than 50% plus one of the total valid votes cast is the president of Uganda. It is the voters who determine how many votes a candidate gets. What the voters have said is what I will declare to the nation,” he said, adding that the results would be announced within 48 hours of the close of polling.
Addressing concerns over the heavy military presence, Byabakama said security forces were deployed to maintain peace and stability, not to intimidate voters. He also acknowledged reports that some polling stations are located within military premises and said the commission would investigate. “If we find that it is true, we shall take the necessary measures to address it,” he added.
Authorities have also cut internet access and limited mobile services across the country to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The outage has raised concerns about repression ahead of the vote and was described by the UN human rights office as “deeply worrying.”
