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Wine pleads for calm, disputes Uganda vote

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Opposition leader Bobi Wine will "legally contest" the results of Uganda's presidential election.
Camera IconOpposition leader Bobi Wine will "legally contest" the results of Uganda's presidential election.

Uganda's opposition candidate Bobi Wine says he will legally contest the result of the election which saw President Yoweri Museveni re-elected, asking his supporters to refrain from violence.

"I take this painful but nonetheless inevitable leadership decision of urging you to desist from any form of violence as we prepare to challenge the election outcome & its glaring imperfections through the courts of law for the sake of our long-term victory & for Uganda," Wine said via the Twitter account of his National Unity Platform (NUP) party.

The decision was taken after consulting with senior NUP leadership, Wine, a pop star-turned-politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said.

Wine and his party have alleged "widespread fraud" during the January 14 poll, which was seen as Uganda's first election that posed a real threat to Museveni's rule.

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The internet was shut down across the country shortly before the start of voting, and the blackout remained in place on Sunday.

The long-time president, 76, was re-elected with almost 59 per cent of the vote, followed by 38-year-old Wine with roughly 35 per cent, according to the electoral commission.

Tibor Nagy, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, tweeted: "Uganda's electoral process has been fundamentally flawed."

Museveni, one of Africa's longest-serving leaders who has held onto power for 35 years, had changed Uganda's constitution to enable himself to run for another five-year term.

The election has been overshadowed by regular outbreaks of violence since campaigning began.

Wine's Kampala residence has been surrounded by the army since Friday evening, with the opposition leader effectively under house arrest.

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