Uganda's Museveni wins disputed presidential election

By Barry Malone and Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa's longest serving leaders, won election to a fourth term in office by a huge margin on Sunday but the opposition rejected the outcome.

Electoral commission results handed Museveni 68 percent of the vote against challenger Kizza Besigye's 26 percent.

However, European Union (EU) election observers said that what they called an unnecessary military presence on voting day had created an uneasy, intimidating feeling.

"The electoral commission declares Yoweri Kaguta Museveni elected president of the republic of Uganda on the presidential elections held on the 18th day of February, 2011," Badru Kiggundu, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Uganda, said in a statement.

Kiggundu urged Ugandans to remain peaceful, for Museveni's supporters to celebrate responsibly and for the opposition to accept defeat honorably and "remain within the legal provisions."

Hours earlier, Besigye said huge sums had been used to buy votes and to bribe polling agents, candidates in the simultaneous parliamentary election, and electoral officials.

"An election conducted in this environment cannot reflect the will of the people. We therefore ... reject the outcome of the election and reject the leadership of Mr Yoweri Museveni," Besigye told a news conference.

A Reuters witness said there was a heightened security presence in the capital, Kampala. Soldiers and police patrolled on foot and in armoured personnel carriers, and riot police were ferried around in trucks and riot control vehicles.