Uganda deploys military ahead of upcoming election

President Yoweri Museveni and his political opponents in Uganda held their final rallies on Tuesday ahead of an election that authorities will oversee with soldiers in the streets, deployments that have alarmed opposition figures who see signs of the authoritarianism they want to oust.  Museveni, Africa’s third-longest-ruling president, seeks a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade after Thursday’s election. His main opponent is the singer-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.

Six other candidates are running for president in the East African nation of roughly 45 million people, which electoral authorities said has 21.6 million registered voters. Museveni “will likely retain power in forthcoming polls,” the International Crisis Group said recently. Ugandan authorities began deploying troops on Saturday in parts of the capital Kampala, with armoured trucks spreading into different parts of the city and soldiers patrolling the streets.