KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandans went to the polls on Thursday under an unprecedented internet shutdown and heavy security deployment, as Museveni sought to extend his four-decade grip on power in an election marred by opposition arrests, media restrictions, and warnings of violence.
Polling stations opened late in parts of the capital Kampala and across the country, according to journalists on the ground, with large contingents of police and soldiers deployed in politically sensitive areas, including Jinja and key Kampala suburbs.
The government ordered the suspension of internet access and selected mobile services on Tuesday, citing risks of “misinformation” and “incitement to violence” — a move condemned by the United Nations as “deeply worrying” and by civil society as an assault on political freedoms.
The climate of fear was reflected in Uganda’s largest independent daily, Daily Monitor, which ran a full-page guide advising citizens how to “election-proof” their homes by reinforcing doors and windows and designating safe rooms in case of unrest.
Museveni, 81, who first seized power in 1986, is facing his strongest challenge yet from pop-star-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, 43, whose support base is rooted in Kampala’s urban poor.
Wine accused the government of preparing to violently suppress dissent and rig the vote.
“We are very aware that they are planning to rig the election, to brutalise people, to kill people, and they don’t want the rest of the world to see,” Wine told AFP, explaining his decision to wear a flak jacket at rallies.
Hundreds of Wine’s supporters have been arrested in the weeks leading up to the election, mirroring the mass detentions that characterised the 2021 polls.
Another veteran opposition leader, Kizza Besigye — who has run against Museveni four times — remains in detention following his 2024 abduction in Kenya and transfer to a Ugandan military court on treason charges.
His wife, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, said Uganda was governed by “a thin veneer of democracy” masking “total capture of state institutions” by Museveni.
Human Rights Watch has also condemned the suspension of 10 NGOs, including election monitoring groups, saying the opposition faced “brutal repression” ahead of polling day.
Reporters Without Borders said journalist Ssematimba Bwegiire was electrocuted and pepper-sprayed by a security officer while covering a Bobi Wine rally, losing consciousness in the process.
Despite the mounting criticism, Museveni struck a defiant tone during his final campaign appearances.
“Go and vote. Anybody who wants to interfere with your freedom, I will crush them,” he said.
Western governments have historically tolerated Museveni’s authoritarian drift, viewing him as a stabilising figure in the Great Lakes region and a key partner in counter-terrorism operations in Somalia, even as corruption scandals and rights abuses multiplied.
Whether the ballot will deliver continuity or confrontation now rests on a counting process unfolding beyond the reach of Uganda’s disconnected citizens.
