(Al Jazeera Media Network) Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been sworn in for a seventh term, extending his 40-year tenure following a landslide victory in controversial January elections.
One of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, Museveni took the oath of office on Tuesday at an event at the Kololo Independence Grounds in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, while being cheered by thousands of attendees.
The election in January took place amid a nationwide internet blackout and reports of intimidation and abductions of the opposition.
Museveni won 71.65 percent of the vote, according to Uganda’s Electoral Commission. Opposition leader Bobi Wine, an entertainer whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, received 24.72 percent and said “massive” ballot stuffing had taken place.
Human Rights Watch accused Ugandan authorities of “intensified attacks” on the National Unity Platform opposition and its supporters after the election, reporting mass arrests and the disappearance of two senior leaders.
During Wine’s campaign, his rallies were repeatedly interrupted by security forces, with supporters arrested and at least one person killed.
Following the election, Wine said he had escaped a police and army raid on his house, and that his wife and other family members were under house arrest.
Several people were killed in an attack at a local opposition lawmaker’s home in the town of Butambala. The opposition said 10 people were killed by police, while the authorities said seven were killed after people with machetes attacked a police station and vote-counting centre.
Since taking office in 1986, Museveni has twice changed the constitution to remove term and age limits. The former rebel leader once said Africa’s problem was leaders who overstayed their welcome.
He is credited by Ugandans with overseeing rapid economic growth and ending a period of post-independence chaos that followed the end of British colonial rule in 1962.
It remains unclear who will eventually replace him. Museveni’s son, Chief of Defence Forces General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is a likely candidate.
