Uganda Votes For President

UGANDANS vote today in the presidential elections, with leading contenders expected to be incumbent President Yoweri Museveni and his former National Political Commissar, Col. Kizza Besigye. Felix Osike reports that polling stations open at 7:00am and voting ends at 5:00pm. Voting is by secret ballot. It is illegal to campaign today or canvass for votes near a polling station. Selling and consumption of alcohol 200 metres from the polling station is prohibited. Voters may not wear campaign T-shirts, carry candidates pamphlets and posters or flash candidates signs at polling stations. Counting of ballots will commence immediately after polling closes and the presiding officer at each polling station will announce the results to the people present. The final results are expected to be announced by the Electoral Commission latest 5:00pm Wednesday. There are 10,674,080 eligible voters. A candidate needs over 50% of the valid votes cast to win. Where none of the candidates gets over 50% there will be a re-run within a month between the two leading candidates. Candidate Yoweri Museveni will vote from his home in Rushere, Nyabushozi, Mbarara. Col Kizza Besigye will vote in Rujumbura in Rukungiri district while candidates Chapaa Karuhanga and Francis Bwengye will vote from Bushenyi district. Mayanja Kibirige will vote from his home in Mbogo, Kawempe, Kampala. Opinion polls conducted in the last two months have put Museveni ahead of his opponents. Both Museveni and Besigye are running on the Movement ticket while other candidates are multipartyists, standing on individual merit. This is the second direct presidential elections since independence from the British in 1962. The first was in 1996. Ends