Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni secures 7th term as opposition rejects results

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won his seventh term with 71.65% of the vote, according to official results Saturday, in an election marred by a days-long internet shutdown and rigging claims by his youthful challenger, who rejected the outcome and called for peaceful protests.

The musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine took 24.72% of the vote, the final results showed.

Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has condemned what he described as an unfair electoral process and alleged abductions of his polling agents before voting had even started in parts of the East African country. He said he rejected the “fake" results and urged Ugandans to peacefully protest until the “rightful results are announced.”

Wine said he had to escape to avoid arrest by security forces who stormed his house Friday night. Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke said Wine was “not under arrest” and was free to leave his house, but there was “controlled access” for others trying to go into the property to prevent people from using the premises to incite violence.

Electoral officials face questions about the failure of biometric voter identification machines on Thursday that caused delays in the start of voting in urban areas — including the capital, Kampala — that are opposition strongholds.

After the machines failed, in a blow to pro-democracy activists who have long demanded their use to curb rigging, polling officials used hard-copy registers of voters.

The failure of the machines is likely to be the basis for any legal challenges to the official result.

Wine has not said whether he would launch a legal challenge with the courts, which previously have refused opposition efforts to nullify Museveni's victories while recommending electoral reforms.

Museveni said he agreed with the electoral commission’s plan to revert to paper records of voters after the biometric machines failed, but Wine alleged fraud, claiming that there was “massive ballot stuffing” and that his party’s polling agents were abducted to give an unfair advantage to the ruling party.

The head of the observer mission for the African Union, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, told journalists Saturday that the mission did not find “any evidence of ballot stuffing” in the polling stations the team observed. He urged electoral authorities to test biometric machines in advance to prevent the failures and delays witnessed on election day.

But some local observers were more critical, calling the failure of biometric machines a red flag. In addition, the election climate was characterised by “fear and tension among the electorate, and some people just chose not to participate in the process,” said Livingstone Sewanyana, head of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, a civic group in Kampala.

Voter turnout stood at 52%, the lowest since the country's return in 2006 to multi-party politics.

Museveni, 81, has stayed in power over the years by rewriting the rules. The last legal obstacles to his rule – term limits and age restrictions – have been removed from the constitution, and some of Museveni’s possible rivals have been jailed or sidelined. He has not said when he will retire and has no rivals in the upper ranks of his party.

Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he faced treason charges he says are politically motivated.

Yusuf Serunkuma, an academic and columnist for the local Observer newspaper, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Wine “didn’t stand a chance” against the authoritarian Museveni, who appoints the electoral commission.

“He has quite successfully emasculated the opposition,” Serunkuma said of Museveni.

Even with Wine’s challenge, Museveni faced “one of the weakest oppositions” in recent times, in part because opposition figures are not united while the president is the undisputed leader of his party and enjoys authority over the armed forces, Serunkuma said.

To implement the internet shutdown, which remained in force from Tuesday to late Saturday, the Uganda Communications Commission directed internet service providers to suspend access over an unspecified threat to national security.

The service providers obliged, even though the directive lacked legal weight without a declaration of a state of emergency. The shutdown devastated a range of businesses, from sports betting shops to Uber drivers.

The security forces were a constant presence throughout the election campaign, and Wine said authorities followed him and harassed his supporters, using tear gas against them. He campaigned in a flak jacket and helmet due to his security fears.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Uganda's security forces patrol a street as supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A traffic police officer sits in front of campaign posters of President Yoweri Museveni, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate, during the general election, in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

FILE - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni speaks during the 60th Independence Anniversary Celebrations, in Kololo, Uganda, Sunday Oct. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda, file)

Uganda's security forces patrol a street during protests following the announcement of the preliminary results in Kampala, Uganda, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A Ugandan police officer makes a gesture behind a burning fire amid protests following the announcement of the preliminary results in Kampala, Uganda, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Girls run during protests following the preliminary results in Kampala, Uganda, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

DALLAS (AP) — The mess in Texas may be just beginning.

Four-term Sen. John Cornyn and his allies spent nearly $70 million to survive the first round of the party’s nomination fight on Tuesday. He was slightly ahead of conservative firebrand Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, with more votes still being counted on Wednesday.

Both now advance to a May 26 runoff election that Republicans fear could be even uglier and more expensive than the first contest.

“It's judgment day for Ken Paxton,” Cornyn said on Tuesday night.

But whether any level of attacks can stop Paxton — who has long been shadowed by allegations of corruption and infidelity — remains unclear, especially as he fashions himself as the kind of Make America Great Again warrior President Donald Trump needs in Washington.

Paxton was defiant when speaking to a few hundred supporters at a Dallas hotel ballroom, a far different scene than Cornyn's small press conference.

“We just sent a message, loud and clear, to Washington,” he said. “We are not going to go quietly, and we are not going to let you buy the seat.”

Republicans are sweating the runoff because the 83-day sprint takes place as operatives in both major political parties acknowledge that Democrats have an unusually solid chance of winning a Senate seat in Texas this year, something that hasn't happened in nearly four decades.

Democrats nominated state Rep. James Talarico, who Republicans immediately attacked as a far-left extremist — even though they privately consider the 36-year-old Christian progressive to be a stronger general election candidate than his primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

The Texas contest is playing out as Trump fights to maintain control of Congress for his final two years in the White House. Republicans are more confident about keeping their majority in the Senate than the House, but a competitive race in Texas could scramble the map, or at least consume resources that the party needs in more competitive states like North Carolina, Maine, Ohio and Alaska.

Republican leaders in Washington insist that Cornyn has the best shot, especially after he finished ahead of Paxton in Tuesday's primary, with U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt finishing a distant third and conceding. Cornyn's campaign argued that a runoff wouldn't even be necessary if it wasn't for “Wesley Hunt's vanity campaign.”

“Paxton’s problems aren’t just an issue in a Republican primary; they also threaten to put the Senate seat at risk due to his lack of strength against Democrat nominee Talarico," a memo from Cornyn's team said.

But Paxton and his allies are showing no signs of backing down.

“The D.C. establishment has done its job: it rallied around its wounded incumbent, opened the fundraising spigot, and flooded the airwaves. But the results, the data, and the reality on the ground all point to the same conclusion: John Cornyn has no viable path to the Republican nomination,” the pro-Paxton Lone Star PAC wrote in a memo. “Cornyn should suspend his campaign, concede the nomination to Ken Paxton, and refuse to allow another $100+ million in Republican resources to be burned in a race that is already decided.”

The only person who might be able to forestall the intraparty fight, or at least limit its fallout, is Trump. But the president has declined to endorse a candidate in the primary, describing all of them as “great,” and it was unclear if anything would change in the runoff.

Without Trump's support, Cornyn made it clear that he would make the case himself. He told reporters that Paxton would be “a dead weight at the top of the ticket for Republicans" in November.

“I’ve worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally,” Cornyn said. “I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years.”

Cornyn will face intense fundraising pressure, having already spent so much money in the first round of the primary. Aides said he had some small fundraisers planned but nothing in the days immediately after this week's vote as he returns to Washington.

In addition, Paxton's allies are confident that the political landscape will tilt in the attorney general's favor.

“The casual and moderate Republican voters who are most likely to support an establishment incumbent are the least likely to return for a runoff,” said the memo from the Lone Star PAC. “The committed conservative activists who form Paxton’s base are the most likely to show up.”

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2026 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/elections.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks during a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to the media Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Myer)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks during a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to the media Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Jack Myer)