Lawyers for Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine have filed a challenge in the Supreme Court on Monday against President Yoweri Museveni’s victory in last month’s election, claiming the poll was rigged.
The 38-year-old singer-turned-lawmaker 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”.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, secured about 35 percent 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 and the Supreme Court must now rule on the petition within 45 days.
By law, Wine must prove to the court that any alleged irregularities affected the outcome of the election “to a substantial manner” — a much higher burden of proof than in civil cases.
Museveni, a 76-year-old former rebel leader who has ruled since 1986, won a sixth term with about 59 percent of the vote.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
