At least seven Ugandan opposition supporters were killed overnight in disputed circumstances, as President Yoweri Museveni has taken a strong lead in the results from Thursday, January 15, 2026, presidential election.

The opposition says they were attacked by security forces in the home of an MP in Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) south-west of the capital, Kampala, while police blame the violence on the opposition.

Figures announced by the electoral commission on Friday afternoon put Museveni in front with 75 per cent of the votes, based on returns from 60 per cent of polling stations.

He is followed by opposition leader Bobi Wine on 21 per cent.

His home in Kampala has been surrounded by security forces, “effectively placing him and his wife under house arrest”, Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) said.

The internet shutdown imposed earlier in the week means news of the violence is only emerging on Friday, January 16, 2026, in Uganda.

Opposition MP Muwanga Kivumbi told the AFP news agency that soldiers and police fired tear gas and then live bullets at hundreds of people who were following early results at his home.

“Ten were killed inside my house,” he said.

Human rights activist Agather Atuhaire confirmed this account to the Reuters news agency.

However, local police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe disputes this, maintaining police fired in self-defence after a “group of NUP goons” had attacked a police station and planned to overrun a tallying centre.

She told Reuters they were carrying machetes, axes and boxes of matches and said at least seven people had been killed.

Meanwhile, some local journalists say security forces have blocked them from accessing the opposition leader’s home in Kampala’s Magere area.

“Security officers have unlawfully jumped over the perimeter fence and are now erecting tents within his compound,” the NUP posted on X.

Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told local broadcaster NBS that as a presidential contestant, Wine was “a person of interest”, adding that the heavy security deployment around his home was for his own security.

Following the 2021 election, in which he garnered 35 per cent of the vote, Wine was confined to his home for several days by security forces.

Electoral chief Simon Byabakama said on Friday that the vote counting had not been affected by the internet blackout imposed earlier in the week, as the commission was using a “private system” to transmit results from districts to the national tally centre

Asked about the timing of the final results announcement, Byabakama said: “We are on course to announce the winner of the presidential election within 48 hours. Before 5 pm tomorrow, we shall have the final results.”

Ugandans voted in a tense national election on Thursday after an often violent campaign, with President Museveni, 81, seeking a seventh term in office.

Wine, a 43-year-old pop star-turned-politician, has claimed  “massive” fraud during the election, which was held under an internet blackout. He did not provide documentary proof, and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Last week, the United Nations’ Human Rights Office said that the election would be marked by “widespread repression and intimidation“.