Ugandan president wins another term

KAMPALA, Uganda -- President Yoweri Museveni overwhelmingly won reelection in Uganda's first multiparty election in 25 years, the country's electoral commission declared yesterday, but the leading opposition party said its independent tally had shown the incumbent trailing.

Within an hour of the announcement, police used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse a crowd blocking the road and throwing stones near the headquarters of Museveni's main opponent, Kizza Besigye.

Young men attacked a man who appeared to be a Museveni supporter, but there were no reports of any other injuries or arrests.

Museveni supporters drove through downtown Kampala, honking horns and cheering.

Museveni, who has been in power for more than 20 years, lifted a two-term limit last year so that he could run again.

A European Union observers' mission accused Museveni of using all the resources of the government to win, and said that the vote had been marred by serious problems.

An estimated 68 percent of the 10.4 million registered voters turned out for the election, in which 284 members of parliament also were chosen.

The official results of Thursday's vote, based on 99 percent of polling stations reporting, showed Museveni with 59.3 percent of the vote, Besigye with 37.4 percent, and the other three candidates sharing a little more than 3 percent.

Besigye said tallies collected by his Forum for Democratic Changes Party at 19,786 polling stations showed him with 49.1 percent and Museveni with 47.1 percent.

''The FDC has taken the decision to reject the results announced by the Electoral Commission and to say we are still gathering our own information, which we hope will be complete in another day or so," Besigye said.

''We shall decide on further action once we have all of the information we need," he added.