Bombay Durpun - Uganda opposition says voting deliberately delayed amid internet blackout

Museveni, 81, is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state and security apparatus.

The former bush fighter faces a concerted challenge from singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 43, who styles himself the "ghetto president" after his stronghold in the slums of the capital, Kampala.

But in many areas, voting had yet to start hours after polls were due to open as biometric machines -- used to verify voters' identity -- were malfunctioning and ballot boxes were undelivered, confirmed by AFP journalists in several parts of Kampala and the nearby city of Jinja.

Some linked the problems to an internet blackout imposed by the government on Tuesday despite repeated promises not to do so.

David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary general of the opposition National Unity Platform, said he had travelled around the capital and that "no voting is taking place" in most places.

"Everything they are doing is a sham and it is deliberate," he told AFP.

By contrast, voting had begun on schedule near the military barracks at Summit View in Kampala, he said. An AFP journalist also saw a polling station open on time next to a military housing area.

"There are technical issues, it is not at all polling stations," said Faruk Kirunda, a presidential spokesperson, adding that affected areas were moving to manual verification "and people are now allowed to vote".

At a polling station on the outskirts of Kampala, voting began four hours late after officials had to switch to manual verification.

"They are trying to steal the poll," said Respy, a woman in her 20s. "They are trying to make us get tired and go home."

- Repression -

As with his 2021 campaign, hundreds of Wine's supporters have been arrested in the run-up to the vote. He wore a flak jacket at rallies, describing the election as a "war" and Museveni as a "military dictator".

"We are very aware that they are planning to rig the election, to brutalise people, to kill people, and they don't want the rest of the world to see," Wine told AFP on the eve of election day.

The government said the internet shutdown was needed to prevent the spread of "misinformation" and "incitement to violence", but the United Nations called it "deeply worrying".

Wine has vowed protests if the vote is rigged.

The other major opposition figure, Kizza Besigye, who ran four times against Museveni, was abducted in Kenya in 2024 and brought back to a military court in Uganda for a treason trial that is ongoing.

Many Ugandans still praise Museveni as the man who ended the country's post-independence chaos and oversaw rapid economic growth, even if much was lost to a relentless string of massive corruption scandals.

"Peace and security in the country is very good. The party is well-organised," said Angee Abraham Lincoln, 42, a Museveni supporter waiting to cast his vote in Kampala.

Western countries have often given Museveni leeway after he swallowed their demands for neoliberal reforms in the 1980s and made himself a useful partner in the US-led "war on terror" in the 2000s, especially through troop contributions to Somalia.

The president struck a forceful tone ahead of the election, saying: "Go and vote. Anybody who wants to interfere with your freedom, I will crush them."

There was a heavy security presence in many areas and police have warned the vote was "not a justification for criminal acts", seeking to prevent the anti-government protests seen in neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania in recent months.

N.Sabharwal--BD