Ugandan opposition leader says vote will not be free or fair

The leading challenger to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Tuesday he had no confidence that elections this week would be free or fair, as all the major candidates held huge rallies in the capital Kampala to mark the end of the campaign.

“We believe we can win the unfree and unfair election, that’s what we are trying to do”, Besigye said before heading towards the city centre accompanied by some 300 supporters to hold rallies. “The young man who was shot and killed will be mourned and declared a hero”, he said. Besigye was today arrested and denied access to his rally at Makerere university.

“There is no democracy in Uganda, and now the whole world will see it. Museveni does not want to lose so he sends the police after us, but this time we will not accept it. We will not let him continue like this”, he told Al Jazeera.

Museveni is widely predicted to win a fifth term in power in Thursday’s polls, and warned at a rally against voting for his rivals.

Candidates in Uganda are holding final rallies Tuesday ahead of the country’s presidential and legislative elections. “They not only need change, but they deserve change”, Besigye said. Police spokesman Fred Enanga has now confirmed the death of one civilian in the scuffles.

One of Besigye’s lawyers, Lukwago Shifrah, said she was in a vehicle with the opposition candidate when they were stopped by police and tear-gassed.

Police said 19 people were wounded, including a policewoman, and 22 people arrested.

Political activity heightened in East Africa as over 15 million Ugandans go to the ballot on February 18th, with neighboring Kenya launching a massive voter registration exercise ahead of the 2017 general election.

The United States last week supported calls for a peaceful, transparent and credible vote.

Museveni has been in power since a 1986 coup and won landslide victories in 2006 and 2011 in elections that observers said were marred by irregularities and intimidation of opposition parties.