Uganda's opposition leader Bobi Wine has told the BBC he will not contest the results of Thursday's election in court, citing a lack of confidence in the judiciary and has instead urged his supporters to take to the streets to peacefully protest.
Speaking to the BBC from hiding, he said he would continue to stand up to President Yoweri Museveni despite concerns for his safety.
The judiciary in Uganda is captured and we encourage Ugandans to use any legal means to fight back and protect their democracy, the 43-year-old former pop star said.
Museveni, 81, won the vote by a landslide and has accused the opposition of seeking to overturn the results through violence, calling them terrorists.
He gained 72% of the vote while Wine, his closest challenger, got 25%.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, maintains the results are fake and has cited ballot stuffing without providing any details.
During his interview, Wine also hit out at the security forces for not allowing food into his family home where his wife and relatives are effectively under house arrest. He says he fled the house, in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, on Friday night during a raid by the security forces.
We reject those results because they are fake and they don't in any way reflect the voting pattern. They are completely different from the results in the electoral on the polling stations and on the declaration forms, Wine told the BBC, speaking from an undisclosed location.
The authorities have not responded to his allegations, but the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) said the technical and procedural challenges observed on polling day did not undermine the overall fairness of the vote.
In their report, the African Union (AU) election observers said they saw no evidence of ballot stuffing, but condemned days-long internet shutdown - which only returned hours after President Museveni was declared the winner on Saturday.
Firebrand politician Bobi Wine, after losing to Museveni in 2021, previously challenged the results but later withdrew his petition, citing bias and lack of impartiality within the court system.
Wine, who has again lost his presidential bid, alleged there was an ongoing silent massacre as political activists were targeted in a crackdown.
He stated in a social media post that more than 100 people had been killed in election violence without providing evidence.
In a threatening statement, Uganda's army chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, promised to treat Wine as an outlaw if he does not surrender to police.
Dismissing Wine’s allegations, the police maintained that their security presence is merely to protect political candidates. However, Wine called for a peaceful change of regime, emphasizing that protests are a constitutional right.
The lengthy reign of Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, continues to raise questions about the future of democracy in Uganda as the country witnesses allegations of electoral malpractice and state-sponsored violence against opposition figures.
