Evidence of Uganda Election Rigging On Steroids—Museveni Gangsta Style

Aiding or abating?

Cooked results? Election “Commission” Chair Byabakama. Photo: Judiacary.go.ug

Earlier on Friday a lead story in Uganda’s leading independent newspaper, The Daily Monitor, caught my attention. According to the article, under the headline “Inconsistency sighted in Presidential election Results,” after a new batch of figures reflecting returns from polling stations, Gen. Yoweri Museveni, the country’s dictator of 35 years, saw his numbers decline—in real value, not relatively—by 130,686. 

The dictator has been awarded 4,470,820 votes, or 62.23% of the votes cast, by 9pm, on Friday, by the Election Commission.

Yet, on Saturday, at 12am, when additional numbers came in from polling stations and Museveni’s portion of votes he “won” were added, his new total came up to 4,340,134 votes, or 61.98%.

Very fishy, and smells of making up numbers and not paying attention along the way. 

It’s also possible that the Election “Commission” is sending not-too-subtle signals to observers that all is not well. On national television in Uganda, when Byabakama was handed new tallies to announce to the media, he seemed startled by the number and asked one of his fellow “commissioners” in a clearly audible tone “Is that correct?” 

Bobi Wine, the leading presidential challenger had already called the early returns giving Museveni 62.23% a “joke.” The BBC called it a “clear lead,” in an article, as if its journalists are unaware of Museveni’s history of vote rigging. Never mind that the dictator’s armed forces had killed at least 54 civilians, beat journalists, restricted areas where candidates can campaign—except for the dictator—and arrested Bobi Wine’s entire campaign staff. After I tweeted the BBC headline, later it was changed from takes “clear lead” to “takes lead.”

If you’re going to help whitewash a theft, the thief also has to do their end of the bargain—and do a good job. 

Here’s how The Daily Monitor’s story reported the elastic vote totals in the Friday article, by David Vosh Ajuna: “Election results of incumbent president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni abnormally decreased by 130, 686 votes instead of increasing as the Electoral Commission (EC), on January 16, 2021, issued the 7th batch of results from the January 14 presidential election. On record, EC chairman Simon Byabakama on Saturday (12am) credited the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party presidential candidate, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, with 4,340,134 votes representing 61.98%, directly conflicting with results availed at 9pm, Friday where the same candidate was allocated 4,470,820 votes, representing 62.23%. Ideally, cumulative results of all candidates should be increasing or staying constant but not dwindling….”

Of course I sensed that this was a huge story, clear indication that the numbers are probably being cooked up. I tweeted The Monitor story with the caption: #DailyMonitor story proves #Uganda #Elex Commission either releasing COOKED returns or silently crying out for help! #Museveni supposedly had 4,470,820 votes. When additional ‘batch’ released he had 4,340,134. The riggers want out of this mess.” 

The Election “Commission,” which is actually hand-picked by Gen. Museveni and acts as his personal secretariat, is under a lot of pressure to declare the dictator winner on Saturday as required by law. Ideally, he’ll also “win” more than 51% and avoid a runoff. 

Obviously the story, perhaps aided by my tweet, and some retweets, caught someone’s attention. By Saturday morning The Monitor story had disappeared from the publication’s website

A proprietary app called Uvote, created by Bobi Wine’s supporters—which lets people submit vote totals from polling stations—was hampered by the almost total shutdown of Internet and social media by Gen. Museveni. Their tallying center had secured returns from 398 polling stations out of 34,714 but showed Bobi Wine leading by 74% to Museveni’s 16.2%. Uvote plans to post more returns as they are transmitted. 

In any case, now that The Monitor story—probably removed after a phone call from State House or a visit from men in uniform—has exposed that something is amiss, who will recognize sham “official” results from Museveni’s Election Commission?

 

 

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