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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 15 Jan 202615 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
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Uganda is on edge as polls have opened, with President Yoweri Museveni expected to extend his four-decade rule<\/a> amid a police crackdown on the opposition, fears of violence and an internet shutdown.<\/p>\n The East African nation is holding a contentious general election on Thursday after a Ugandan government regulatory body instructed mobile network operators to block public internet access, starting on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Polling stations were slow to open, as is usual in Uganda, but voting was under way shortly after 7am (04:00 GMT) in at least one Kampala suburb, AFP news agency journalists saw. There were heavy police and army patrols in the border town of Jinja, another AFP team said.<\/p>\n Partial results are expected later in the day after polls close.<\/p>\n More than 21.6 million voters have registered for the election. In a country where 70 percent of people are under age 35, high unemployment is a key issue for first-time voters.<\/p>\n The local Daily Monitor newspaper ran a full-page on how to \u201celection-proof your home\u201d, advising citizens to reinforce doors and windows and designate a safe room in case of unrest.<\/p>\n The United Nations Human Rights Office stressed on Wednesday that \u201copen access to communication & information is key to free & genuine elections\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAll Ugandans must be able to take part in shaping their future & the future of their country,\u201d it said<\/a>.<\/p>\n The government of Museveni, 81, has been accused of overseeing a years-long crackdown on its critics<\/a>, arresting political opposition leaders and their supporters.<\/p>\n Museveni is being challenged in Thursday\u2019s vote by pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine<\/a>, whose campaign rallies have been routinely disrupted by the Ugandan authorities.<\/p>\n As with his 2021 campaign, hundreds of Bobi Wine\u2019s supporters have been arrested in the run-up to the vote. He has been wearing a flak jacket at rallies, describing the election as a \u201cwar\u201d and Museveni as a \u201cmilitary dictator\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very aware that they are planning to rig the election, to brutalise people, to kill people, and they don\u2019t want the rest of the world to see,\u201d Bobi Wine told AFP.<\/p>\n