Bobi Wine Challenges President Museveni’s Victory in Court

Lawyers for Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine on Monday filed a challenge in the Supreme Court against President Yoweri Museveni’s victory in last month’s election, claiming the poll was rigged.

The 38-year-old singer-turned-politician came a distant second behind veteran leader Museveni in the January 14 vote that followed some of Uganda’s worst pre-election bloodshed in years.

Medard Sseggona, one of Wine’s lawyers, said: “any election Museveni participates in can never be a peaceful election, can never be a free and fair election”.

“We want nullification of the election. We do not want (Museveni) participating in any future election,” Sseggona said outside the Kampala courthouse where he filed the petition.

Museveni, a 76-year-old former rebel leader who has ruled since 1986, won a sixth term with about 59 per cent of the vote.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, secured about 35 per cent and slammed the vote as a sham.

Under the constitution, Wine had 15 days from the declaration of results by the electoral commission to challenge the outcome.

The Supreme Court must now rule on the petition within 45 days.

Losing candidates have sought unsuccessfully in the past to overturn Museveni’s wins in court. One of Africa’s longest-serving rulers, Museveni has won every election since 1996, almost all marred by allegations of irregularities.

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