https://newsletter.po.creamermedia.com
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / African News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Over 100 Uganda opposition supporters charged over election violence


Close

Over 100 Uganda opposition supporters charged over election violence

Should you have feedback on this article, please complete the fields below.

Please indicate if your feedback is in the form of a letter to the editor that you wish to have published. If so, please be aware that we require that you keep your feedback to below 300 words and we will consider its publication online or in Creamer Media’s print publications, at Creamer Media’s discretion.

We also welcome factual corrections and tip-offs and will protect the identity of our sources, please indicate if this is your wish in your feedback below.


Close

Embed Video

Over 100 Uganda opposition supporters charged over election violence

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Photo by Reuters
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni

20th January 2026

By: Reuters

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Over 100 members of Uganda's biggest opposition party have been charged with various offences including unlawful assembly related to violence around last week's election, according to court documents and an opposition official.

The east African country's veteran leader Yoweri Museveni, 81, was declared the landslide winner of the January 15 poll with 71.6% of the vote against his opponent Bobi Wine with 24%.

Advertisement

Wine, the pop star-turned-politician, and his party, the National Unity Platform have rejected the results, alleging widespread irregularities including ballot stuffing, enforced disappearance of polling agents and intimidation by security forces. Wine's whereabouts remain unknown after he said he had escaped a raid by the military on his home.

In a video on NTV Uganda on Monday night Wine accused police of vandalising his home and said leaving his residence would free him "to speak to the world." He did not disclose his location.

Advertisement

At least 118 members of the NUP were taken to various courts in the capital Kampala on Monday and charged with offences including unlawful assembly, conspiracy and unlawful possession of election materials, NUP lawyer Kato Tumusiime told Reuters and court documents showed.

David Rubongoya, NUP's secretary general, denied their supporters were involved in violent activity.

"Majority of them were polling agents, they even had their letters confirming that they are polling agents of NUP, they were targeted, arrested violently," Rubongoya told local broadcaster NTV Uganda late on Monday.

Scattered protests broke out around the capital on Saturday shortly after the electoral body declared Museveni the winner, although they were quickly quashed by police using teargas and detentions.

Ahead of voting, the UN Human Rights Office accused Uganda's military and police of using live ammunition to disperse peaceful rallies, carrying arbitrary detentions and abduction of opposition supporters.

In power since 1986 and currently Africa's third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni's latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      FEEDBACK

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here


About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za