Opponent Bobby Wayne claims he “won on a large scale” in the Ugandan presidential election

Opposition candidate Bobby Wayne said on Friday that he “won broadly” in the Ugandan presidential election the day before, despite preliminary results that gave outgoing President Yoweri Museveni an advantage, in power for 35 years.

“I’m sure we defeated the dictator,” Wayne told a news conference. “We definitely won the election and won it on a grand scale.”

The first results give an advantage to Museveni, the autocratic leader who aspires to a sixth term. After scrutiny in 29% of the polls, the outgoing president is leading with 63% of the vote to Wine’s 28%.

“Mr. Museveni is trying to convince he’s on top. What a joke,” the 38-year-old said. According to Wayne, the election was marred by “irregularities that came from above, as Museveni and his bloodthirsty regime committed to preparing for the worst fraud the country had ever seen.”

The former Raja singer, who is popular with the country’s urban youth, added, “Even with all the irregularities in auditing, which we will share with the rest of the world in the coming days when the internet is restored, we have achieved a comfortable advantage.” .

The presidential and legislative elections were held, under close scrutiny, with almost no internet connection, which was virtually cut off, as well as social networks and messaging services, which had been suspended since Tuesday.

Museveni faces a total of 10 candidates, but he is particularly afraid of the popularity of Wayne, who grew up in a slum and has the nickname “ghetto head.”

The United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and several NGOs have expressed concerns about the fairness and transparency of the elections.

Only one foreign organization, the African Union, sent observers.

The United States, a major donor to Uganda, canceled a diplomatic observation mission after several of its officials were denied permission to monitor the elections.

np-rfo / fal / ayv / pc / mar