Uganda Votes Under Internet Blackout and Long Delays as Museveni Seeks to Extend 40-Year Rule

KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandans went to the polls Thursday in a tense general election marked by hours-long delays at many polling stations, a nationwide internet shutdown and a heavy deployment of soldiers and police across major cities, as President Yoweri Museveni sought to extend his four-decade rule.

Long lines and equipment failures

Voting for president and parliament was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. across this East African nation of about 50 million people. But in parts of the capital, Kampala, and other urban centers such as Jinja, voters said they waited in line for hours before ballot papers arrived or biometric voter machines were set up and switched on.

“We came here before sunrise because they told us 7 a.m.,” said one first-time voter at a primary school polling station in Kampala, where the gates did not open until midmorning. “The machine is not working, and nobody can tell us when it will start.”

Uganda’s Electoral Commission had promised that biometric voter verification kits, designed to scan fingerprints against a national voter roll, would speed up voting and curb fraud. Instead, malfunctioning or missing devices forced officials at many stations to fall back on paper registers and handwritten forms. In some locations, local media and observers reported that ballot papers and indelible ink also arrived late, contributing to bottlenecks that stretched queues around schoolyards and church compounds.

The commission said polling stations that opened late would remain open to allow all voters already in line by 4 p.m. to cast their ballots. It blamed the delays on logistical challenges and technical faults and urged patience.

A familiar showdown—and an election largely offline

The problems came as Uganda held its first national vote since 2021, when security forces killed dozens of people during pre-election protests and authorities imposed a days-long internet blackout.

Thursday’s election again pitted Museveni, 81, against his main challenger, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, the 43-year-old musician-turned-politician widely known as Bobi Wine, who leads the National Unity Platform (NUP).

Museveni, who first took power in 1986 after a guerrilla war and leads the ruling National Resistance Movement, is widely viewed as seeking a seventh elected term after constitutional changes removed term and age limits. Wine’s NUP, which already holds the largest number of opposition seats in parliament, draws much of its support from young, urban voters in a country where the median age is under 18.

Two days before polling, the Uganda Communications Commission ordered internet service providers to cut access to most online services nationwide from 6 p.m. on Tuesday, citing the need to curb “online misinformation and disinformation,” prevent “electoral fraud and related risks” and stop “incitement of violence.”

The directive exempted a narrow list of services, including core banking platforms, tax systems, certain government websites and some health facilities. Social media platforms, messaging apps and most web access were blocked, according to network measurements published by independent monitoring groups.

The shutdown contradicted earlier public assurances. Just over a week before the vote, a senior official in the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology had dismissed talk of an impending blackout as “false and misleading,” saying the government had “neither ordered nor announced any decision to switch off the internet.”

Rights groups condemn the blackout

Human rights organizations condemned the decision. One leading group called the measure a “blanket internet shutdown” that “violates rights and can never be justified,” noting that regional human rights standards require any restrictions on access to information to be lawful, necessary and proportionate. United Nations human rights officials said open communication and access to information were essential for free and genuine elections.

Opposition parties and civil society groups said the blackout impeded their ability to coordinate polling agents, report irregularities and compile their own tallies from results posted at individual stations. It also limited the capacity of domestic and international observers to follow developments in real time.

On the streets of Kampala, the impact was immediate. Ride-hailing drivers, online vendors and informal traders who rely on mobile money platforms said business dropped sharply once data services were cut.

“We can call, but customers cannot send us money,” said a fruit seller in the Kisenyi neighborhood. “People are afraid to move with cash.”

In anticipation of restrictions, some Ugandans began downloading offline, Bluetooth-based messaging applications that can connect devices without an active internet connection. Downloads of one such app surged in the days before the vote after Wine urged his supporters to install it as a hedge against a shutdown.

Heavy security presence

Security forces maintained a visible presence throughout the day. Armored vehicles and truckloads of soldiers were stationed along major roads in Kampala, while riot police patrolled key intersections and surrounded some polling stations in densely populated neighborhoods.

Museveni framed the deployment as a safeguard. At his final campaign rally at Kololo Independence Grounds on Tuesday, he called on Ugandans to vote in peace but issued a warning to those he accused of planning unrest.

“Anybody who tries to interfere with your freedom will be crushed,” he told supporters. “We are ready to put an end to this indiscipline.”

Wine, speaking to reporters before the polls opened, urged his followers to turn out in large numbers and described the vote as a “protest ballot” against what he called decades of misrule. He alleged that hundreds of NUP members and activists had been arrested or abducted in the weeks leading up to the election and said his party expected further attempts to manipulate the process.

“If General Museveni rigs the election, we shall call for protests,” he said, adding that Ugandans should be prepared to “take charge” if they believed the official results did not reflect their will.

Ugandan authorities have repeatedly denied carrying out enforced disappearances and have said any arrests of opposition supporters were made in accordance with the law. Officials accuse Wine and his party of planning violence and working with foreign interests to destabilize the country.

Oversight limits and the counting ahead

Independent verification of claims on both sides was complicated by the internet blackout and limits on observation. The government has tightened regulation of nongovernmental organizations in recent years, and several groups that had previously monitored elections were ordered to suspend operations ahead of Thursday’s vote.

Uganda’s Electoral Commission, chaired by Justice Simon Byabakama, is mandated by the 1995 Constitution to organize and supervise elections, including setting dates under Article 61. The commission announced that presidential and parliamentary polls would be held on Jan. 15 within the constitutional window that requires elections to take place in the final months of the government’s term.

Under Ugandan law, the commission is expected to compile results from polling stations and declare a winner within a relatively short time frame, typically within 48 hours. In past elections, opposition candidates have challenged results in court, alleging fraud and irregularities, with limited success.

The 2021 presidential election, in which the commission declared Museveni the winner with about 59% of the vote and Wine second, was criticized by rights groups and some foreign observers as marred by violence, intimidation and a previous internet shutdown. Wine initially filed a petition at the Supreme Court contesting the outcome but later withdrew it, saying the court was biased.

Succession questions and high stakes

Beyond questions about the conduct of the vote, the 2026 election sharpened debate over succession. Museveni, who was born in 1944, has not publicly named a preferred successor. However, his son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a senior military officer who has held key command posts, has in recent years cultivated a political profile of his own, fueling speculation that he could eventually seek the presidency. Ruling party officials insist the question of who leads after Museveni will be determined democratically.

Uganda remains a key security partner for Western governments, contributing troops to African Union peacekeeping missions and hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighboring countries. It is also preparing to begin commercial oil production through projects led by foreign energy companies, adding economic stakes to political stability.

As polls closed Thursday and counting began at individual stations, many Ugandans still had little sense of how the day had unfolded beyond their neighborhoods. Without social media feeds, live streams or independent tallies circulating online, information moved by word of mouth, radio broadcasts and state television.

In a country where most citizens have known only one president, the ballots sealed in plastic boxes and stacked on classroom desks will determine whether Museveni extends his tenure into a fifth decade or whether Wine’s challenge translates into a shift in power — and how far authorities are prepared to go, both online and on the ground, to shape that outcome.