MEDIA BLACKOUT IMPOSED AS POP STAR CHALLENGES MUSEVENI IN VOTE

Ugandans voted in presidential elections Thursday during an unprecedented internet shutdown following a bloody eight-week campaign that pitted longtime president yoweri Museveni against youthful pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine.

Turnout was up across the capital, Kampala, according to election officials at polling stations, with long queues forming and many first-time voters waiting up to two hours to cast their ballot.

On Wednesday the government communications regulator ordered all internet service providers to implement a “temporary suspension of operations,” according to a letter seen by The daily Telegraph, plunging the country into an unprecedented information blackout just 12 hours before polls opened in the most contentious election of Museveni’s 35-year reign.

Museveni, who seized power as the head of a rebel army in 1986, is seeking a sixth term in office but appears to have been caught off guard by the popularity of Wine