Uganda opposition leader held again as votes counted

Kizza Besigye arrested for the third time in a week after veteran leader Yoweri Museveni takes lead in early results.

Uganda's main opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been arrested for the third time in a week, as provisional results gave veteran President Yoweri Museveni an early lead in an election overshadowed by persistent claims of vote-rigging.


A Reuters news agency witness saw Besigye and several of his supporters loaded onto the back of a police van. Earlier in the afternoon police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse Besigye supporters outside the headquarters of his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.

Several Ugandan journalists tweeting from the scene also reported the arrest. Partial results announced by the electoral commission showed Museveni had taken nearly 62 per cent of the vote - far ahead of Besigye with 33 per cent, after about 23 percent of the votes had been counted.