KAMPALA, Uganda – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has won six consecutive elections since 1986, but the strongman’s winning streak appears to be faltering in the face of a new breed of adversary: a youthful rapper turned lawmaker campaigning in a bulletproof vest.
When Ugandans go to the polls on Thursday, 76-year-old Mr. Museveni will face the biggest threat to his rule from Bobi Wine, a 38-year-old musician whose campaign has struck a chord with many of the 18 million voters in one of the world’s most youthful nations.
The elections sparked Uganda’s worst political violence for decades, with more than 50 people shot by government forces after Mr Wine’s arrest in November. Diplomats and rights groups have warned of ongoing clashes in the aftermath of a campaign in which the administration has jailed lawyers, prosecuted election observers and violently silenced opposition leaders. On Tuesday, the government also blocked all social media channels.
The match epitomizes a generation clash across Africa, where entrenched older leaders grapple with increasingly restless youthful populations demanding better economic opportunities. Mr Museveni scornfully calls Mr Wine “my grandson”, while the rapper taunts the president as “an aging dictator” who should leave power to avoid the fate of Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe or Libyan Moammar Gadhafi.
“I’m the representative of the future,” said Mr. Wine. “The struggle is the cause of Africa, and we must not withdraw.”