Nothing appeared amiss at the hilltop polling station at Kinkiza, a pretty corner of western Uganda, yesterday. Voting had gone smoothly, officials said. But one man discreetly thrust a handwriten note into the palm of a visiting journalist.
It read: "I am sorry to inform you that you are getting wrong information from people in favour of Museveni. The truth is that few people have managed to vote on their own behalf because their votes have all been ticked by one person."
Evidence of blatant vote-rigging in Uganda's presidential election emerged yesterday. Supporters of opposition challenger, Dr Kizza Besigye, and ordinary voters claimed that poll officials were ordered to stuff ballots in favour of President Yoweri Museveni.
At Kinkiza, the presiding officer displayed the voting register with a visibly trembling hand. It showed that 99 per cent of the 873 voters had cast their ballots - even though the station had only been open for four hours.
A pair of international observers stood uncomfortably nearby. "We are not allowed to comment," they said. Then one whispered: "They are stealing the vote. Go and talk to the people in the village."
A local councillor had come earlier to the station accompanied by five soldiers, Mr Henry Tumwesigye, a teacher, explained on the main street. "The councillor forced the officials to hand him the ballot papers and then he put them in the box. Nobody participated in the voting, not even the Museveni supporters."
There was also evidence of serious irregularities at two other polling stations visited by The Irish Times.
At Katete, Ms Patience Tumwijukye (30) was furious: "I have just come here and they insist I have already voted. Why would I do that? They are cheating for Museveni."
Ms Tumwijukye marched up to the presiding officer to demand her vote for a second time. But there was a neat tick beside her entry on the voting register, and she was turned away.
The sullen presiding officer offered an explanation: "Someone else came along earlier with the same voting card. First come, first served." But a hostile crowd had formed outside the cordon, many of whom complained of similar intimidation.
Some said they were forced to cast their votes in front of the presiding officer, others had their ballots filled out for them. "If they think you are going to vote for Besigye, they just tick it for you. Some people were threatened," said Ms Ann Rwamburu (19).
A spokeswoman for Dr Besigye said he would not accept the result in Kambuga. However, election monitors said early reports indicated that voting had passed off peacefully in Kampala and throughout most of the country.
"Some incidents have been reported but so far the process has been fair," said Canon Grace Kaiso, of the NGO election monitoring group.
Yesterday's poll is seen as a democratic litmus test for President Museveni, who has relied heavily on donor aid from a number of Western countries, including Ireland, to rebuild his once-devastated country.
Dr Besigye has presented the first significant challenge to his rule since coming to power in 1986. Mr Museveni has used state-owned television and newspapers to promote his reelection and there have been several reports of intimidation of opposition supporters.
One man died and several people were injured last week after government troops opened fire on an opposition rally.
Early results are expected today but a final result must be announced by tomorrow afternoon. Mr Museveni needs to take at least 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a second round.
As he cast his vote yesterday, the president declared: "I am going to win for sure. There will be no run-off but what we are fighting is the cheating."