ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605130098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KAMPALA, UGANDA
Tens of thousands of President Yoweri Museveni's supporters drove through the capital honking car horns and chanting ``No change'' Saturday to celebrate his first electoral victory.
Museveni, already Uganda's longest-serving president, will be sworn in today in an open-air ceremony in a Kampala park.
Rewarded by voters for restoring peace and prosperity after seizing power in a coup 10 years ago, Museveni easily won Uganda's first direct presidential election.
Museveni got 74.2 percent of the ballots cast Thursday. Veteran politician Paul Ssemogerere got 23.7 percent, and university administrator Muhammad Mayanja got 2.1 percent.
When Museveni was declared the winner on national radio Saturday, tens of thousands of his supporters poured onto Kampala's streets, chanting ``No change,'' blasting car horns, and waving branches and flags.
``We have had peace and we were worried about losing that peace,'' said Kojabe Consolata, a 33-year-old hotel worker. ``I am very happy and want our president to continue for 10 more years.''
Although Asa Mutebi, 52, belongs to Ssemogerere's Baganda tribe, he said he voted for Museveni to safeguard peace.
``There has been no violence, no victimization, no looting,'' he said. ``This was an election where tribe or religion did not matter.''
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB