{"id":20970,"date":"2026-01-13T15:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/20970\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T15:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:10:11","slug":"bobi-wine-warns-of-protests-if-uganda-election-is-rigged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/20970\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobi Wine warns of protests if Uganda election is rigged"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/africa\/Bobi-Wine-warns-of-protests-if-Uganda-election-is-rigged-2017077?gallery=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/98689231.295.jpg\" alt=\"Uganda\u2019s opposition leader Bobi Wine is seen waving the Ugandan flag\" title=\"Uganda\u2019s opposition leader Bobi Wine is seen waving the Ugandan flag\" width=\"295\" height=\"149\" \/> <\/a>Uganda\u2019s opposition leader Bobi Wine is seen waving the Ugandan flag<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-123\">Uganda\u2019s opposition leader Bobi Wine has warned he will call for mass protests if President Yoweri Museveni rigs this week\u2019s presidential election, as more than 20 million Ugandans prepare to vote on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have said it many times that if General Museveni rigs the election, we shall call for protests,\u201d Wine told AFP, saying the opposition has urged citizens to \u201ctake charge\u201d of the vote. He said the election itself has been \u201ccodenamed a protest vote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Museveni, 81, is widely expected to extend his nearly four decades in power, backed by firm control of the state and security forces. His main challenger is Wine, 43, a singer-turned-politician running for president for the second time after his 2021 campaign was marred by violent repression and allegations of fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Wine insisted the opposition is winning popular support but questioned whether power would be peacefully transferred. \u201cAre we taking power? That\u2019s a question for the population, the international community, and for General Museveni, who is holding power using the gun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rights groups, including the United Nations and Amnesty International, have accused Ugandan authorities of cracking down on dissent ahead of the vote, citing arrests of Wine\u2019s supporters. Wine acknowledged protests could trigger further violence but said non-violence remains key, adding that even \u201cviolent regimes get thrown out by protests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Large, youthful crowds have continued to rally behind Wine in Kampala, reflecting wider regional anger in East Africa over shrinking democratic space and lack of economic opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uganda\u2019s opposition leader Bobi Wine is seen waving the Ugandan flag Uganda\u2019s opposition leader Bobi Wine has warned&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[153],"class_list":{"0":"post-20970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uganda","8":"tag-uganda"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}