Uganda ruling party says polls free and fair

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s ruling Movement party said
Thursday’s election was free and fair and rejected accusations
from the opposition as the complaints of “bad losers.”

“We are satisfied. The Electoral Commission and security
services did their bit and the voters conducted themselves
well,” Movement spokesman Ofwono Opondo told Reuters. “I think
the opposition (Forum for Democratic Change) are bad losers”

The FDC has complained of “multiple irregularities” in the
polls — the first multi-party contest for 25 years in the east
African nation — and may challenge the result in court.

Opondo said the government had expected the FDC to take
legal action, even before the polls, and rubbished FDC claims
voters’ names were missing from the register due to foul play.

“We need to differentiate between technical hitches and
political motives,” he said, adding his younger brother had
been unable to vote for the Movement because he was not listed.

“Voting is supposed to be secret,” he said. “Why do they
think all the missing names are their supporters?”

President Yoweri Museveni — who is running against his
former doctor, FDC candidate Kizza Besigye — and hopes to
extend 20 years in power that the opposition says have become
increasingly autocratic