Museveni Holds Commanding Lead in Uganda Count as Army Denies Bobi Wine Capture

Overview

• Preliminary Electoral Commission tallies showed Museveni far ahead, including 75.4% to 20.7% for Bobi Wine with about 60% counted and 73.7% to 22.7% with over 80% counted, with final results expected Saturday.
• The military rejected reports that Bobi Wine was seized or flown from his home, after the opposition alleged he was under house arrest and later forcibly removed.
• Uganda’s regulator ordered mobile operators to cut public internet access before the vote, a move the government framed as a security measure that watchdogs criticized as a rights violation.
• Voting day featured heavy deployments, reports of arrests and use of force, technical failures with biometric machines in multiple areas, and at least one death noted by UN experts.
• Opposition supporters turned to the offline Bluetooth mesh app Bitchat, developed by Jack Dorsey, which surged to the top of app charts even as security experts warned of metadata exposure risks.