Uganda: Museveni leads in provisional results

Uganda’s incumbent president Yoweri Museveni has taken the lead in provisional results from Thursday’s presidential election.

The results regularly updated on the country’s electoral commission’s website puts Museveni in the lead with more than 5 million votes.

He is followed by opposition leader Kizza Besigye with over 2 million votes.

The provisional results are from 23,304 of the 28,010 polling stations across the country.

Former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is in third place with a little over 1.2 million votes.

Some 8,608,765 voters cast their ballots in what is considered Uganda’s keenest presidential election.

Opposition leader Kizza Besigye was arrested for the third time on Friday at his party’s headquarters but was later released.

Ugandan media reported that Besigye’s arrest could be linked to his decision to publish results from the polls – an act considered illegal by the state.

“Reasonable measures have been taken to control supporters of the FDC who are a threat to public order and the elections,” a police official, Felix Andrew Kaweesi told reporters.

“He is fully aware that only the electoral commission has the right to publish results,” Kaweesi added.

The United States has condemned Besigye’s arrest which it describes as a type of misconduct which questions Uganda’s commitment to conducting transparent polls.

Besigye has been the main rival to President Museveni who has been in power for 30 years.

He has contested him in three previous elections and lost.

Below are the official provisional results from the Electoral Commission of Uganda