Museveni re-election challenged in court

A petition filed by defeated challenger Kizza Besigye to nullify the re-election of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last month was heard in the capital, Kampala, on Wednesday.

Besigye, leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, has asked his country's supreme court to void the polling results that extended Museveni's 20-year tenure on the grounds of widespread irregularities.

"The election was not conducted in accordance with principles laid down in the provisions of the law," he said, alleging "intimidation, lack of freedom and transparency, unfairness and violence, and commission of numerous electoral offences and illegal practices."

Appearing on a local television talk show on Tuesday, Besigye said the election outcome would not be conclusive until all the petitions had been heard, adding that he would win the legal battle and force a re-run by the last week of April. The court is required by law to expeditiously hear and determine the case before 12 May, when Museveni is to be sworn-in.

Besigye, 50, had mounted the strongest challenge yet to 62-year-old Museveni. He won 37 percent of the vote, compared with the incumbent's nearly 60 percent. The president’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) maintains that the election was "free, fair and democratic".