Vickie Remoe Institute of Digital Communications

Election Day in Uganda: 38-year-old Bobi Wine goes head to head with 76-year-old Yoweri Museveni for presidency

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Polls are ongoing in Uganda, today Thursday, January 14, 2021, and it’s a harsh rivalry between incumbent 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement and 38-year-old pop star and politician Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine of the National Unity Platform. 

A total of 18.1 million voters are eligible to vote for 11 contending presidential candidates and 529 members of Parliament.  

President Museveni, one of Africa’s oldest leaders who has been in power for 35 years is seeking reelection for the sixth time. He came into power by the time Bobi Wine was three years old and he is the only president many Ugandans have known since birth. 

Opposition contender Bobi Wine says he is representing the country’s youths as he sees himself as the “ghetto president.” While President Museveni says he represents the stability of the country. 

In the past few weeks, there have been dozens of violent attacks on opposition parties who were holding campaigns. The government is using the army and the police to intimidate opposition leaders and supporters. 

Before the election, the government ordered internet service providers to shut down the internet in the whole country. Facebook has also shut down pages that are related to the government.

However, the US has refused to conduct an observer mission on today’s election, saying that the electoral commission refused to grant the majority of their observer’s permission to observe the election. 

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