Calm Prevails as Divided Ugandans Vote for President

Amid allegations of voter fraud but little of the feared violence, millions of deeply divided Ugandans lined up Thursday at outdoor polling stations to cast ballots in a hotly contested presidential race.

Polling stations closed with only scattered reports of unrest. “It was a success,” said Okello Jabweli, spokesman for Uganda’s Electoral Commission.

Observers said the true test would come in the next 48 hours, when the commission was expected to declare a winner. President Yoweri Museveni, who has led Uganda for 20 years, is the front-runner, but polls showed his key challenger, Kizza Besigye, narrowing the gap in recent weeks. To avoid a March runoff, the winner among the five candidates must receive more than 50% of the vote.

After casting his vote in his home village of Rushere, Museveni smiled and predicted victory. “Obviously, I will win,” he told reporters.

Besigye supporters complained Thursday about voting irregularities, saying hundreds were turned away from polling stations in Kampala, the capital, and other Besigye strongholds after being told their names were not on registration rolls.

“Something fishy is going on,” said Mustafa Kayiizi, 25, holding a receipt he received in October after registering to vote. He said he rushed to register as soon as Besigye returned to Uganda from self-imposed exile and announced his plan to run. But Kayiizi and others were told Thursday that they had missed the registration deadline.

“They’re trying to stop people from voting for Besigye,” he said.

Jabweli, the commission spokesman, said election officials would investigate the reports. He said that some voters might have been unfairly denied access to the polls but that others might have registered twice or at the incorrect polling station.

More than 600 international observers fanned out across the country to monitor voting. The Commonwealth Observer Group, a London-based monitoring group, is expected to announce its findings in the coming days.

In interviews at polling stations, Ugandans said the presidential race had divided the country more than any election in recent memory.

In Njera, east of Kampala, a group of older Ugandans sat on porch stoops, shaking their heads at a group of young Besigye supporters standing 100 feet way. The older voters blamed the younger generation for stirring up trouble in their once quiet district. They said that in the run-up to the election, police used force and tear gas to break up Besigye rallies in the rural area.

“These young boys have never known war or the bad days we have seen,” said John Baptist Asiimive, 54, a shoe shiner who remembers the brutal oppression Uganda endured during military dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s.

He lifted a pant leg to reveal the scars on his right leg, which he said was crippled after soldiers of former strongman Milton Obote struck him with a bayonet because he didn’t have any money they could steal.

“I don’t want any more change,” agreed widow Teresa Mbabzi, 50, who praised Museveni for restoring security and lifting primary school fees. “I’ve seen enough change in my life. These boys don’t understand. They are trying to start another war.”

In downtown Kampala, Sam Kizito, 25, expressed his own frustration. Like other Besigye supporters, Kizito said he was turned away from the polls because his name was not on the voter list.

“It’s the older generation that doesn’t get it,” he said. “Anyone who says they don’t want change has no vision for the future.”

He acknowledged progress made during Museveni’s rule.

“I appreciate what he has done,” Kizito said. “It’s not that he is so bad. But even if your own son had been in office for 20 years, you’d want to vote for someone else. We need change.”