Uganda’s Wine says escaped raid on house amid disputed presidential vote

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine says he escaped a police and army raid on his house as veteran incumbent Yoweri Museveni looks set to secure an overwhelming victory in the presidential election.

“I want to confirm that I managed to escape from them,” Bobi Wine, a former pop star whose real name is ​Robert Kyagulanyi, wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

“Currently, I am not at home, although my wife and other family members remain under house arrest. I know that these criminals are looking for me everywhere, and I am trying my best to keep safe.”

Bobi Wine on Friday said security forces had placed him under house arrest. His party later wrote on X that he had been “forcibly taken” from his residence by an army helicopter. The military rejected the allegation.

Bobi Wine, the country’s top opposition figure, had challenged longtime President Museveni in an election campaign that the United Nations said was marred by “widespread repression and intimidation”.

Museveni, 81, looked set to be declared the winner and extend his 40-year rule, in an election marred by reports of at least 10 deaths and intimidation of the opposition and civil society.

In his post to X on Suturday, Bobi Wine said his wife and other relatives remained under house arrest. He ascribed the reports of his own abduction on authorities blocking access to his home and neighbors misinterpreting the overnight “commotion” there.

He reiterated his “COMPLETE REJECTION” of the “fake results” being announced by the head of Uganda’s election body, Simon Byabakama, once again alleging ballot stuffing and the detention of other leaders of his party, the National Unity Platform.

“Aside from the blatant theft of the presidential election, these criminals have employed various fraudulent techniques to usurp the will of the people,” he wrote.

“The PEOPLE OF UGANDA WILL ULTIMATELY WIN.”

The opposition leader later posted videos to his X account of himself speaking from an undisclosed location in front of a Ugandan flag.

In them he demanded that the government end the internet shutdown it imposed ahead of the elections and release the “rightful” district vote tallies “so that the people of Uganda can see the rightful results in transparency.”

The vote is widely seen as a test of Museveni’s political strength, and nearly-final results gave him a commanding lead.

As of Saturday morning, Museveni, who ​has been in power since 1986, had won nearly 72 percent of votes, with more ‌than nine-tenths of polling stations counted, while Wine trailed with 24 percent, the electoral commission said.

Final results are due around 4pm local time in Kampala (13:00 GMT) on Saturday.

After a campaign marred by clashes at opposition rallies and the arrests of opposition supporters, voting passed peacefully on Thursday.

But at least seven people were killed when violence broke out overnight in the town of Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala.

Local police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe said machete-wielding opposition “goons” organised by local MP Muwanga Kivumbi attacked a police station and vote-tallying centre.

Kivumbi, a member of Wine’s party, said security forces attacked opposition supporters who had gathered at his home to wait for the election results to come in. The opposition lawmaker said 10 people were killed.