Bobi Wine Counts Cost of Uganda Election Loss

National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as singer Bobi Wine, was the main opponent of President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement in the January 14, 2021 general elections. He faced many obstacles during his campaign trail, including intimidation, arrest, and the banning of his campaign meetings. On the day of the elections, security operatives confined Bobi Wine to his house claiming that they had evidence that he was planning to incite violence and lead protests, after he disputed election results in which the electoral commission declared Museveni the winner of the presidential poll. Wine announced that he would petition the results but has now reportedly withdrawn after running out of time to present his party's evidence. Wine said that going to the Supreme Court to challenge President Yoweri Museveni's re-election was a "waste of time" and that the institution of the Judiciary had been "reduced to a mere mockery". Bobi Wine's wife Barbie Itungo Kyagulanyi reportedly left the country for the U.S. at the beginning of February, to join her children who left the country days before the January 14 general elections. In January 2021, Bobi Wine claimed he had received credible reports that Museveni had planned to abduct his children in the run-up to the elections.