Roundup: Ugandan president elect to face legal battle over election results

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is set to face a legal battle with the Opposition that is challenging the Feb. 18 presidential polls in which he was announced winner.

Forum for Democratic Change, an opposition party whose candidate Kizza Besigye came second, told reporters on Tuesday that there must be an independent audit of the presidential polls, noting that there were malpractices.

"There are clear and glaring contradictions between what was declared by the Electoral Commission and what we have gathered across the country. This can only be peacefully resolved by an independent audit," the party said.

It also said the continued incarceration of Besigye at his residence and persistent arrests by the police, curtailed the party's efforts to petition the Supreme Court to annul the elections.

Amama Mbabazi, who was also a presidential candidate in the elections, on Monday appealed the country's Supreme Court challenging the outcome of the elections.

Mbabazi in his petition argued that there were election offenses by Museveni and his agents, which undermined the electoral processes.

"The malpractices include voter bribery, threats of violence, abusive language, arbitrary arrests of candidates, and supporters of opponents as well as forced disappearance among others," he said, noting that all these acts contravened the Presidential Elections Act.

He urged the Court to annul the elections, noting that the offenses had a substantial effect on the final outcome.

Mbabazi also called on the public to bring forward any credible evidence so that it can be used in Court.

The ruling party, National Resistance Movement, said it is ready for the legal battle and has assembled a team of lawyers.

This is not the first time the Court has been asked to annul the presidential election results in the country.

Besigye, who has challenged Museveni in three presidential elections, has gone to court before seeking redress. In 2001 and 2006, he went to Court, noting that there were "gross malpractices".

The Court, in both 2001 and 2006 cases, argued that whereas there were malpractices, they were not substantial enough to annul the election results.

In the 2001, it was three-to-two decision, and then a four-to-three decision in 2006.

In the current case, according to the country's Constitution, the Court is supposed to reach a final verdict within 30 days.

The case is likely to draw a lot of public attention since this year's elections have been the most contested.

Since the election day, government beefed up security in major towns in the country to prevent the outbreak of election violence.

In the capital Kampala, armed police and the military continue to patrol the streets, noting that there is intelligence information that the opposition is recruiting youth to cause chaos.

Besigye is still under house arrest and his residence is surrounded by armed police, screening any visitor going to see him. Attempts by him to leave the house have ended up into arrests and taken to police cells. He is later in the night dropped back at his home by police.

Several journalists have been arrested by police and later released after making statements.

Police argued that live media coverage of the Besigye incarceration is intended to incite violence. Enditem