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Kenya

Museveni rejects fraud claims, celebrates win with his cows

– Rigging claims ‘rubbish’ –

“Anybody who is trying to challenge the results of this election must not be serious,” Museveni added. “If anyone was rigging, why did we not rig in Kampala? Why did we agree to lose where we can rig? That’s rubbish.”

Besigye has urged the world to ignore the results. “Should you ratify the results of these sham elections, at least have the courage to admit that you do not care about democracy or human rights in Africa,” he said.

Ex-prime minister Amama Mbabazi, a former ruling party stalwart who trailed in distant third with just over one percent of the vote, also said the election was “fundamentally flawed.”

Some 9.7 million Ugandans – a turnout of around 63 percent – voted for president and members of parliament, with 290 assembly seats contested by candidates from 29 political parties.

The election on Thursday was disrupted in Kampala by the late arrival of ballot boxes and papers and angry demonstrations by voters that the police quelled using tear gas.

At nearly 28,000 other polling centres voting passed off smoothly, but the ballot was extended for a second day in 36 places after delays that Commonwealth election observers called “inexcusable” and that “seriously detracted from the fairness and credibility of the result”.

European Union election observers on Saturday said that voting was peaceful in the “vast majority” of the country, but voiced criticism over the “lack of transparency and independence” of the electoral commission.

The US criticised “irregularities” in the vote, including accusations of vote buying and rigging, which a State Department spokesman said was “deeply inconsistent with international standards and expectations for any democratic process”.

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Despite the controversy, several African leaders extended their congratulations.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta wished Museveni “every success as he serves his nation for another term”, while Burundi’s embattled President Pierre Nkurunziza praised the “well-deserved re-election.”

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia – where Ugandan troops are fighting the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab – said it showed “the maturity of practising democracy in a peaceful manner.”

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