Social media has been blocked in Uganda on the day of presidential elections .Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni explained that this is to stop people "telling lies".
Interviewed
on TV about social media, Mr Museveni said: "Some people misuse those pathways.
You know how they misuse them - telling lies.
Mr
Museveni, 71, is seeking to extend his 30-year rule, in a race widely seen as
the tightest in the East African state's history. Seven opposition
candidates
are running against Mr Museveni.
His main
challenger is his former physician, Kizza Besigye who has said he does not
think the election will be free and fair.
Former
Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is also seen as a leading contender for the
presidency.
The head of Uganda's media regulator, Godfrey
Mutabazi, said the block was introduced after a request from the electoral
commission, local media reports.
He added that it was to make sure the services
would not be used to bribe voters.
Uganda's leading mobile operator MTN, which has 10
million users, confirmed that it had received an order to shut down social
media services.
Facebook,
Twitter, Whatsapp and mobile money services have been blocked.
Despite
this, #UgandaDecides is still trending on Twitter
The election has been marred by delays of up to
five hours at some polling stations.
The electoral commission said difficulties in
transporting electoral materials caused the delays and agreed to extend voting
for three hours until 16:00 GMT in some polling stations.
Voting has
been cancelled at at least two polling stations in the capital Kampala after
clashes with police.
No comments:
Post a Comment