Uganda court upholds Museveni election win

Kampala / AFP

Ugandan judges dismissed on Thursday a legal challenge to President Yoweri Museveni’s fifth-term election victory last month, which sparked claims of foul play.
“The Election Commission nominated Museveni lawfully in accordance with the Presidential Elections Act,” Chief Justice Bart Katureebe said as he read the ruling to a packed court in the capital Kampala.
“We find no satisfactory evidence of the allegations of multiple voting,” he added, dismissing opposition claims of separate tally centres falsifying votes.
“There (were) no illegal tally centres from which the Electoral Commission received results,” the ruling said.
Museveni, in power since 1986, was last month declared winner with 61 percent of the vote and has rejected claims that his victory was won through cheating and fraud.
Third-placed Amama Mbabazi, a former prime minister who won just over one percent of the vote, submitted a legal petition challenging the February 18 result, but the nine-member Supreme Court rejected the bid.
“We find it difficult to believe that the petitioner’s performance at polling stations was due to unavailability of his agents,” the ruling said.