Bobi Wine Set to Legally Contest Uganda's 2021 Election Results

National Unity Platform (NUP) leader,Bobi Wine, has reportedly stated that he will contest Uganda's recent election results. Bobi Wine made the announcement this past Sunday after the national election results declared incumbent Yoweri Museveni Uganda's next president. Museveni reportedly won the elections with 58.64 percent while Bobi Wine received 34.83 percent according to Uganda's electoral commission. The voter results were announced on Saturday after national elections were held last week on Thursday, thus extending Museveni's rule with a sixth consecutive presidential term. Bobi Wine has reportedly alleged voter fraud by Museveni following the effect of Uganda's social media shut down a day before the elections.

READ: Uganda Enforces Social Media Shutdown as Presidential Elections Draw Closer

According to Al Jazeera, BobiWine urged his supporters to refrain from taking any violent action following the disheartening election results:

"I take this painful but nonetheless inevitable leadership decision of urging you to desist from any form of violence as we prepare to challenge the election outcome and its glaring imperfections through the courts of law for the sake of our long-term victory and for Uganda."

The opposition leader could not be reached for official media correspondence. International pro-democracy monitoring organisation, Vanguard Africa, had reportedly been in talks with Bobi Wine before elections but could no longer reach him due to Museveni's sudden social media shutdown.

AfricaNews reports that the African Union (AU) and East African Community (EAC) were the only international monitoring bodies that were active during Uganda's January 14th elections. Head of the EAC monitoring mission, Domitien Ndayizeye, stated that monitoring of the elections was made difficult by the internet and social media shutdown. "The mission was not able to observe transmission of results from the polling," Ndayizeye stated. The EAC reportedly went on to deny that Bobi Wine had raised concerns of voter election fraud.

The residence of the young opposition leader was more recently reportedly surrounded by military personnel yet again. Bobi Wine's official Instagram account also shared that he and his wife had run out of food supplies and were not permitted to pick food from their own garden.