Exiled Ugandan lawyer and writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has sharply criticised Uganda’s presidential election process, alleging that the outcome announced in favour of President Yoweri Museveni was the result of a tightly controlled and technologically opaque system rather than a transparent vote.
In a detailed statement published on X following Thursday’s election, Kakwenza argued that the entire electoral process is managed as a “closed system” by the Electoral Commission (EC), whose members are appointed by President Museveni.
He claimed this structure leaves no room for independent verification, creating conditions that allow manipulation without easily detectable evidence.
Kakwenza singled out the voter registration process, which relies on biometric technologies such as fingerprints and facial recognition.
He described these systems as unreliable, noting that they are rarely used in Europe but remain common in African elections.
According to him, small adjustments in biometric matching thresholds can allow duplicate registrations or exclude legitimate voters, making the official voter register — and by extension turnout figures — statistically uncertain.
He further questioned the electronic transmission of results from polling stations to tally centres, arguing that the systems lack basic safeguards such as cryptographic verification, digital signatures, or publicly auditable logs.
Without these, he claimed, the integrity of results cannot be guaranteed once they leave polling stations.
At the national tallying stage, Kakwenza alleged that proprietary software enables selective acceptance or alteration of results, allowing what he termed “micro-manipulation” across many polling stations to produce nationally significant changes while appearing statistically plausible.
He also pointed to what he described as suspicious turnout patterns, with opposition-leaning urban areas reporting delayed or suppressed results, while rural strongholds recorded near-total turnout and uniform margins.
Such patterns, he argued, are mathematically improbable under normal voting behaviour.
Kakwenza concluded by criticising the early announcement of results before full reconciliation, saying this undermines basic principles of data validation.
Ugandan authorities have previously dismissed similar claims, insisting that elections are conducted in line with the law and reflect the will of the people.