THE POLICE vans on the ferry were a bad sign. On December 30th Bobi Wine, a pop star who is running for the Ugandan presidency, was campaigning on an island in Lake Victoria. Police and soldiers were waiting for him. They stopped his convoy and arrested members of his entourage. They threw tear gas grenades at journalists on the scene, then ordered them to stop using their phones. Mr Wine himself was bundled into a helicopter: the police insisted they were not arresting him, but merely taking him home. “The candidate was restrained,” said a statement, “for holding massive rallies amidst the increased threat of coronavirus”.
Ugandans will vote for a president on January 14th. But this election has little to do with democracy. Crowds are dispersed with tear gas and bullets. Campaign meetings in the capital are banned. A leading human-rights lawyer has been arrested. The state has shot scores of people dead.
Authoritarian habits are ingrained in the institutions of the Ugandan state. Even so, this election will probably be the most violent since Yoweri Museveni fought his way to power in 1986. His regime is rattled by an opposition candidate, Bobi Wine, a pop star and politician who has become an avatar of youthful discontent.
Mr Museveni is one of Africa’s longest-serving presidents (see chart). Yet the 76-year-old...
