Defeated presidential candidate in the Uganda election, Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, has alleged vote rigging as the Electoral Commission declares incumbent President Yoweri Museveni winner.

Museveni won almost 59% of the vote, with Bobi Wine trailing with about 35%.

Bobi Wine, a former pop star turned politician, has vowed to provide evidence of fraud but the Electoral Commission denies there was vote-rigging in Thursday’s election.

Poll monitors have criticised the government for closure of internet access, they said this undermined confidence.

Bobi Wine said he would provide evidence of fraud once the internet was restored.

Dozens of people were killed during violence in the run-up to the election, opposition politicians have also accused the government of harassment.

The result gives President Museveni a sixth term in office, the 76-year-old, in power since 1986, says he represents stability in Uganda.

On Friday, as the results came in, Bobi Wine said that Ugandan soldiers had surrounded and breached his home.

But a government spokesman accused him of “dramatising” the incident “to seek sympathy”.

“The electoral commission declares Yoweri Museveni… elected President of the Republic of Uganda,” election commission chairman Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama said on Saturday.

He said turnout was 57% of the almost 18 million registered voters, earlier, Byabakama said the vote had been peaceful, and called on Bobi Wine, who said some of his polling agents were arrested on Thursday, to make public the evidence for his fraud allegations.

The opposition candidate believes the internet shutdown is being used to block communication and as a way of compromising the vote.

“I will be happy to share the videos of all the fraud and irregularities as soon as the internet is restored,” Bobi Wine said.

Meanwhile, Wanyama, who is a spokesperson for President Museveni, hit back at Bobi Wine’s claims of vote rigging.

“He came short of the expectation of Ugandans,” he said in an interview.

“He had no message and Ugandans have told him he has to wait a little longer.”

Wanyama added: “We have challenged him to provide proof for his claims, he has not a single iota of evidence.”

The EU, the United Nations and several rights groups have previously raised concerns about the integrity of Uganda’s election.

But, aside from an African Union mission, there is currently no major international group monitoring the vote. Earlier this week the US – a major aid donor to Uganda – cancelled its diplomatic observer mission to the country, saying that the majority of its staff had been denied permission to monitor polling sites.

Violence reached an unprecedented level in the build-up to the race, and dozens have died during crackdowns by security forces.

Bobi Wine and other opposition candidates have been arrested on several occasions, and during protests that followed one arrest in November, more than 50 people were killed.

Museveni, who came to power on the back of an armed uprising in 1986, stood as leader of the National Resistance Movement (NRM).

He has long been depicted to Ugandans as a liberator and peace bringer.

His challenger Bobi Wine is a reggae star known by his supporters as the ghetto president. His party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), campaigns for basic needs like improving access to healthcare, education, clean water and justice.

Over the last two decades, Bobi Wine’s musical output has been filled with songs about these issues and they have inspired a fervent following.

He grew up in Kampala’s Kamwokya slum where he went on to build his now world-famous recording studio.

Incumbent Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni has been announced as winner of the country’s Presidential election.

The electoral commission of Uganda announced the final results of the election on Saturday, 48 hours after the polls.

Museveni won 5,851,037 votes (58.64%) of the votes to emerge winner of the election. Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) won more than 3 million votes and over 34% of he votes.

It is Museveni’s lowest votes tally in 6 elections and the lowest since he had 59% in 2006 against Kizza Besigye.

The Presidential election was marred with trouble-ridden campaigns with an opposition candidate, Bobi Wine having some of his supporters killed.

Prior to the election, internet was shut down in Uganda while CSOs and NGOs were not allowed to observe.

United States observers were also not granted accreditation.

More than half of the 18m people who registered to vote in Uganda participated in the election.

Bobi Wine has since rejected the results, as he accused Museveni of riggin the election.

Security operatives have since surrounded Bobi Wine’s house, as they failed to allow local and foreign journalists into his premises.

Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, has claimed victory in Uganda presidential election despite early results giving incumbent President Yoweri Museveni a wide lead.

The 38-year-old former singer rejected as a “joke” preliminary results that gave Museveni the lead.

The electoral commission said earlier on Friday that Museveni, who is seeking a sixth term in office, led in Thursday’s polls with results in from 29 percent of polling stations.

Museveni has received 63 percent of ballots while Bobi Wine had 28 percent, the electoral body said. Final results are expected by Saturday afternoon.

Bobi Wine, the 38-year-old former musician-turned politician has emerged as the main challenger to 76-year-old Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

“We secured a comfortable victory,” Bobi Wine told reporters in Kampala, the capital. “I am very confident that we defeated the dictator by far,” Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said.

“The people of Uganda voted massively for change of leadership from a dictatorship to a democratic government, but Museveni is trying to paint a picture that he is in the lead. What a joke!” he added.

The opposition leader, who has been arrested multiple times during the campaigning, earlier said the presidential election was marred by ‘fraud and violence’ without providing any evidence.

Bobi Wine said he would detail election irregularities by the ruling party once the internet was restored. The internet remained down for a third day as vote counting continued.

An election commission official responded to Bobi Wine’s accusations. “Let him show the country in what manner, in what form the results are rigged.”

Meanwhile, the government dismissed the opposition leader’s allegation and called on him to present evidence of his claims.

“This is what we expected before. Even before we went into polling, he said the election will be rigged,” Ofwono Opondo, government spokesman, told reporters, “These are allegations that we are used to in Ugandan elections. Nothing new,” he added.

The election took place after one of the most violent campaigns in years, with harassment and arrests of the opposition leaders, attacks on the media and dozens of deaths.

The run-up to polling day was marred by a sustained crackdown on Museveni’s rivals and government critics and unprecedented attacks on the nation’s media and human rights defenders.

In November, at least 54 people were shot dead by security forces loyal to Museveni during protests against one of Wine’s numerous arrests.

The U.S., EU, UN and global rights and democracy groups have raised concerns about the integrity and transparency of the election.

Meanwhile, the African Union (AU), has sent monitors, along with an AU women’s group.

On Wednesday, the United States, a key aid donor to Uganda, announced it was cancelling a diplomatic observer mission after several of its staff were denied permission to monitor the election.

On Tuesday, Museveni announced the suspension of social media networks and messaging services like Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp in response to Facebook closing accounts linked to government officials that the technology giant said were spreading misinformation.