Uganda main opposition candidate arrested on vote day

Uganda’s main opposition candidate in the presidential election has been briefly detained on the day of voting.

An aide to Kizza Besigye said the opposition leader was arrested earlier on Thursday as he was investigating alleged ballot-stuffing in a house run by the intelligence agencies in Naguru, a suburb of the capital Kampala.

Shawn Mubiru said Besigye was taken to an unknown location and police did not respond to questions about the detention.

According to Besigye's lawyer, Ladislaus Rwakafuzi, he was later "released without charge and taken home," in line with a previous trend of detention and release.

Besigye was incumbent Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's main challenger in the election which was marred by accusations that the government deliberately delayed the transfer of voting materials to polling stations in a bid to frustrate pro-Besigye voters.

Polling stations either opened late or never opened on Thursday due to the late arrival voting papers with officials saying those closed centers will be opened Friday.

Clashes were reported between angry voters and police in Kampala's Ggaba neighborhood where people waited more than seven hours for the voting to open.

Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change party said the delays were a “deliberate attempt to frustrate” voters in urban areas where the opposition candidate is believed to enjoy more support.

“Why is it that in areas where we enjoy massive support, like Kampala and Wakiso, that's where these things are happening? We can't have a credible election under this environment,” said Ssemujju Nganda, the spokesman for the opposition party.

A senior foreign election observer called the delays “absolutely inexcusable.” The head of the Commonwealth Observer Group, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, said the delays “will not inspire trust in the system and the process.”

Access to social media websites like Twitter and Facebook were also blocked with Museveni saying the move was necessary in anticipation of certain threats.

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