Polls open in Uganda amid crackdown, fears of violence, internet blackout 

Uganda is on edge as polls have opened, with President Yoweri Museveni expected to extend his four-decade rule amid a police crackdown on the opposition, fears of violence and an internet shutdown.

The East African nation is holding a contentious general election on Thursday after a Ugandan government regulatory body instructed mobile network operators to block public internet access, starting on Tuesday evening.

Polling stations were slow to open, as is usual in Uganda, but voting was under way shortly after 7am (04:00 GMT) in at least one Kampala suburb, AFP news agency journalists saw. There were heavy police and army patrols in the border town of Jinja, another AFP team said.

Partial results are expected later in the day after polls close.

More than 21.6 million voters have registered for the election. In a country where 70 percent of people are under age 35, high unemployment is a key issue for first-time voters.

The local Daily Monitor newspaper ran a full-page on how to “election-proof your home”, advising citizens to reinforce doors and windows and designate a safe room in case of unrest.

The United Nations Human Rights Office stressed on Wednesday that “open access to communication & information is key to free & genuine elections”.

“All Ugandans must be able to take part in shaping their future & the future of their country,” it said.

The government of Museveni, 81, has been accused of overseeing a years-long crackdown on its critics, arresting political opposition leaders and their supporters.

Museveni is being challenged in Thursday’s vote by pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, whose campaign rallies have been routinely disrupted by the Ugandan authorities.

As with his 2021 campaign, hundreds of Bobi Wine’s supporters have been arrested in the run-up to the vote. He has been wearing a flak jacket at rallies, describing the election as a “war” and Museveni as a “military dictator”.

“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,” Bobi Wine told AFP.

The UN Human Rights Office last week warned that Ugandans would be heading to the polls amid “widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition, human rights defenders, journalists and those with dissenting views”.

The Uganda Communications Commission defended the internet shutdown as necessary to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks”.