Uganda Elections: Main opposition candidate briefly detained by police

The police did not respond to requests for comment.

Besigye has been repeatedly detained by police in the past, and is commonly released without charge hours later.

It added the party was “disturbed by the failure of the Electoral Commission to act timely and decisively in the face of these irregularities”, including the delays in the wider Kampala district, as well as of reports of “pre-ticked ballots” in favour of Museveni and candidates from his NRM party.

Commonwealth Observer Group chairperson, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also ex-Nigerian president, told media in Kampala’s Makindye division: “A delay of an hour or two is excusable…delays of three, four, five and even six hours, especially in Kampala, are absolutely inexcusable and will not inspire trust and confidence in the system and the process”.

The start of the election was delayed in in some polling stations because of what the electoral commission said was a shortage of election materials.

The government also shut down access to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

At one Kampala polling centre, hundreds of frustrated voters shouted and gesticulated at election officials. When they found out there were ballots only for choosing members of parliament, with no ballots for the vote for president, they overpowered the police, grabbed the ballot boxes and threw them all over a field.

Elections in 2006 and 2011 were marred by violent and occasionally deadly street protests and a liberal use of tear gas by heavy-handed police.

He said ahead of the elections that he did not believe they would be free or fair.

“Why is it that in areas where we enjoy massive support, like Kampala and Wakiso, that’s where these things are happening?” said Ssemujju Nganda.

Back in Kabalagala, Abdellah Kakeeto, a farmer, said: “We have been waiting since 6am, and it is not usually like that”. More than 15 million people are eligible to cast their ballots. The lines were full of mostly young people.

Besigye was Museveni’s personal physician during a bush war and served as deputy interior minister in Museveni’s first Cabinet. He is one of Africa’s longest serving presidents, alongside Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola, and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

“That must be steps taken for security to stop so many social media users from getting in trouble; it’s temporary, it will go away because some people misuse those pathways for telling lies”, local media quoted Museveni as saying.

Voting in most polling stations closed at 1600 local time (1300 GMT) but in some areas it was extended to 1900 local time (1600 GMT) due to delays.

“I’ve voted since I was 18 and now I am in my 30s, and I have never seen this”, a woman called Mary Nduru told the polling station presiding officer in Kabalagala, a neighborhood which predominantly supports opposition candidates standing against President Yoweri Museveni.

“These cases are worrying because every citizen of Uganda has the right to vote”, said Eduard Kukan of Slovakia, chief of the European Union’s election observer mission.

A candidate needs to secure more than 50% of the vote to win outright and avoid a run-off with the second-ranked contender.