Vote counting has begun in Uganda where citizens cast their ballots Thursday in a peaceful general election that will see a new president, members of the parliament, and local government representatives elected, Anadolu Agency writes.
According to the East African country’s Electoral Commission, over 18 million registered voters took part in the polls described by analysts as “a generational contest.”
There are nine candidates contesting against the incumbent Yoweri Museveni, 76, for the presidency.
Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for over three decades and now seeking a sixth term in office, is facing stiff competition from Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, a popstar-turned-politician, popularly known by his stage name Bobi Wine.
The voting began at 7 a.m. local time (0400GMT) at thousands of polling stations across the country, in events broadcast live by news organizations.
People started queuing up as early as 5 a.m. but most centers reported transportation delays and started polling at 8 a.m.
Biometric voting machines were used at 34,000 polling stations. Once past the biometric verification, voters were directed to three ballot boxes to vote for their district level, parliamentary, and presidential candidates.
In terms of COVID-19 measures, most voters could be seen wearing masks, but the long queues ignored social distancing protocol.
“Vote counting is currently underway and there are no untoward incidents yet,” Hussein Magala, a resident of the city of Mbale, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of the capital Kampala, told Anadolu Agency over the phone.
According to local television reports, vote counting began at about 6 p.m. where polling officials would announce the votes cast for each candidate.
The Electoral Commission is expected to release the first batch of results in the presidential and parliamentary election late Thursday.
So far, a few hitches have been recorded in various places in Uganda, including electoral officials confirming a ballot box being stolen in western Uganda’s Kacherere, Rubaale area in the Ntungamo District. Electoral officials confirmed the incident to local media noting that the elections in such affected areas will be held on Friday, while three people were reportedly arrested following the theft of the ballot box, with over 800 voters affected.