KAMPALA – Uganda’ president Yoweri Museveni admitted even he had problems voting as technical issues disrupted yesterday’s election, in which he hopes to extend his 40-year rule, amid an internet blackout and a police crackdown.

Museveni (81) is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state and security apparatus.

The former bush fighter faces a concerted challenge from singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine (43) who styles himself the “ghetto president” after his stronghold in the slums of the capital, Kampala.

But in many areas, voting had yet to start hours after polls were due to open as biometric machines used to verify voters’ identity were malfunctioning and ballot boxes were undelivered.

“Everything they are doing is a sham and it is deliberate,” David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary general of the opposition National Unity Platform, told AFP, adding that “no voting” had taken place in the morning across much of Kampala.

Some linked the problems to an internet blackout imposed by the government on Tuesday despite repeated promises not to do so.

Museveni acknowledged even he had trouble and promised to investigate.
“I put my right… thumbprint. The machine did not accept it. I put my left, it did not accept it,” he told journalists, adding that the machine finally accepted a scan of his face, allowing him to vote.

At a polling station on the outskirts of Kampala, voting began four hours late after officials had to switch to manual verification.
“They are trying to steal the poll. They are trying to make us get tired and go home,” said Respy, a woman in her 20s. – Nampa/AFP