Journalist and political commentator Andrew Mwenda has punched holes in National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Bobi Wine’s claims that he won the 2021 presidential election, urging him and Dr Kizza Besigye to focus on increasing voter turnout in 2026.
Bobi Wine lost to incumbent President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Electoral Commission (EC) results indicate that Museveni polled 58 per cent of the total votes cast while Bobi Wine managed 35.
But the singer-turned-politician recently claimed he garnered 54 per cent — although he gave no substantial evidence to prove this claim.
It was on the basis of this unverified claim that Bobi Wine called on his supporters to engage in peaceful protests.
But Mwenda says Bobi Wine’s claims of election victory don’t make much sense.
“It is possible there are some areas where mistakes, manipulations etc could have happened. But how significant were they?” argues Mwenda.
“It’s impossible to have a perfect election. But the margin of distortion needs to be established before declaring the results as not credible.”
He further emphasized why it is importance to consider the significance of electoral malpractice forms such as ballot stuffing on the final figure.
“Finally the opposition claim Museveni or NRM stuffed the ballot boxes. This should increase voter turnout, not reduce it. Even if it was true, and I think it was, how many ballots were stuffed and what is their effect on the final count?” he continues.
“Do you have any evidence that the EC threw away ballot papers so that voter turnout was higher than it actually declared? If u don’t have evidence, do you have logical arguments to demonstrate this, your assertion?”
Mwenda further argued that not even military presence can stop Besigye, Bobi Wine and other opposition figures from beating Museveni if they can increase voter turnout to over 80 per cent.
“In 2019, I warned the opposition that unless they increase voter turnout, it would be hard for them to defeat Museveni. As I predicted voter turnout was 57% with Museveni getting 58% of that or 32% of the total registered voters. Will they ever listen, these opposition?” recalled Mwenda.
“There was no violence and military presence on the streets in 2011, voter turnout was 58% and Besigye got 26%. Then in 2016 there was a lot of violence and military presence but voter turnout was 68% and Besigye got 36%.”
