Uganda opposition rejects election result: Besigye

KAMPALA (Reuters) – Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye
said on Saturday his party rejected the results of Thursday’s
polls that extended President Yoweri Museveni’s two decades in
power, citing irregularities.

“The Forum for Democratic Change has taken the decision to
reject the results,” Besigye told reporters at his home.

A final tally announced by election authorities gave
Museveni 59 percent of votes against 37 percent for Besigye.

As Museveni supporters danced in the streets, police fired
teargas to disperse hundreds of FDC supporters protesting
outside their party’s headquarters.

“We call on our supporters to remain calm, ignore what the
electoral commission has announced and what the (ruling)
National Resistance Movement has done,” Besigye said.

“It is disgraceful that the NRM government has decided to
use its power to terrorize people,” he said of the teargas.

Uganda’s first multi-party polls for a quarter of a century
were being closely watched in the West as a test of African
democracy, and for the signal it might send to others in the
region who also enjoy lengthy stays in power.