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Ugandan candidate arrested after polls close

February 18, 2016

Uganda's top presidential challenger, Kizza Besigye, has been arrested by police and taken to an unknown location. News of the arrest came just as the country's presidential elections wrapped up.

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Uganda's leading opposition presidential candidate
Image: Reuters/J. Akena

Police in Uganda arrested Kizza Besigye at a polling station in the capital Kampala on Thursday, shortly after the polls closed.

Besigye "has been arrested and we do not know where he is," said his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, without giving further details.

Shawn Muburi, a communications head for the FDC said Besigye was arrested late on Thursday in the Kampala suburb of Naguru while investigating alleged ballot stuffing.

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"He was in his home district where he voted when he got information that there was an illegal tally center manned by the NRM and police," said Mubiru. "He walked in and saw them pre-ticking ballot papers. They arrested him and took him to an unknown place."

There was no immediate police confirmation of the arrest, but Besigye has been previously detained numerous times by police and is usually released without charges hours later.

His arrest earlier this week triggered clashes between his supporters and police forces in the capital of Kampala on Monday, where one person was killed.

Besigye is seen as the main challenger against current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Delayed Elections

Voting in Uganda's presidential and parliamentary election failed to begin for several hours on Thursday as polling stations waited for ballot boxes and papers to arrive.

"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," Olusegun Obasanjo, the head of the Commonwealth Observer Group in Uganda, told AFP.

DW's Ole Tangen, who was also on scene in Kampala, noted that long lines and missing materials drastically delayed the elections.

The government also shut down access to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook during the election, citing "security reasons."

Due to the delays, some districts in the city capital extended the poll times while others will reopen on Friday, as well.

rs/kms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)