The authorities in Uganda blocked internet service nationwide on Tuesday, days before a national election in which President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country since 1986, is seeking to secure a seventh term.
The decision by the Uganda Communications Commission was taken by the national security committee to prevent the “weaponization of the internet,” as well as misinformation, said Nyombi Thembo, the head of the commission, said in an interview.
“People wanted to start using the internet to promote hate speech,” Mr. Thembo said, adding that he did not know when internet service would be restored.
Mr. Museveni is expected to secure re-election comfortably against his main challenger, Bobi Wine, who built a large following among the country’s urban youth as a pop singer with an anti-government message before jumping into national politics.
Critics of Mr. Museveni say the decision to cut the internet was intended to thwart any attempt to organize protests in the unlikely event he is defeated after Thursday’s vote. Results are expected to be announced over the weekend.
In an interview on Monday at his home near the capital, Kampala, Mr. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, accused the electoral commission of vote rigging. Mr. Wine, 43, said he was campaigning as part of what he called a “protest vote,” despite the abduction of some of his supporters and state violence.
“I told the people of Uganda, they see me beaten, they see me cry, they’ll see me broken but they’ll never see me give up,” he said. Mr. Wine was beaten and detained repeatedly when he ran for president in 2021.
Internet blackouts at election time have become common in Africa, largely as a tool of political control. The authorities in Tanzania staged a brutal post-election crackdown in October during an internet shutdown that lasted several days. Afterward, the government banned the sharing of videos of protests.
Mr. Museveni is able to deploy the state’s resources to secure re-election and the disparity between the two political rivals was clear during final rallies held in the capital this week.
Tens of thousands of people gathered to cheer on Mr. Museveni’s final rally on Tuesday, many arriving in buses and minivans. In a display of financial muscle, sound systems blared music and the ruling National Resistance Movement handed out free T-shirts, hats and flags in the party’s color, yellow.
By contrast, a heavy security deployment established a perimeter around Mr. Wine’s rally on Monday, deterring people from participating. At least one person was chased down by soldiers and beaten for waving a national flag, a symbol of Mr. Wine’s campaign that has been banned by the authorities.
Mr. Museveni, 81, fought his way to power in 1986 as the head of a rebellion and has ruled since, gradually asserting control and establishing Uganda as a significant regional power. The country has deployed troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan and is the largest contributor to African Union peacekeeping forces in Somalia.
His campaign slogan is “Protecting the Gains” made under his leadership. Many Ugandans say they are looking beyond the election to a potential transition of power in which the president’s son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the head of Uganda’s armed forces, is viewed as strongly positioned to succeed his father.
In 2021, however, Mr. Wine presented the government with its most significant electoral challenge when, in songs and speeches, he channeled the economic and political frustrations expressed by many of the country’s young population. Dozens of people were killed during that campaign and the internet was also cut. Uganda has one of the world’s youngest populations. More than one in four of the country’s population, estimated at around 50 million people, is between 18 and 30 years old.
Another prominent Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, is in detention, having disappeared from neighboring Kenya in 2024 before surfacing in a military court in his home country. He has been charged with security offenses.
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