KAMPALA Incumbent Yoweri Museveni easily won Uganda's hard-fought presidential election on Wednesday, but his main challenger rejected the vote and demanded a fresh poll.

With results in from all but 14 of 17,308 polling stations, Museveni took 69.3 percent of the vote. His rival Kizza Besigye trailed with 27.8 percent, the Electoral Commission said.

"Therefore, President Yoweri Museveni is declared the winner of the 2001 presidential elections," said commission Chairman Aziz Kasujja.

Besigye has already rejected the outcome.

"I write to inform you that my task force and I vehemently reject the ... election results that are now being declared by your commission and demand fresh elections," Besigye said in a letter to the commission on Wednesday.

"We will not meekly submit to those who want to govern without the people's mandate, we shall resist them," he said.

"We consider the results being declared null and void".

Museveni was widely expected to win a final five-year term as leader of the East African nation, but the poll was marred by reports of vote-rigging and intimidation of Besigye supporters.

Museveni's campaign spokesman, Information Minister Basoga Nsadhu, said his candidate had won fairly.

"He (Besigye) should accept that he has been defeated," Nsadhu said.

-------- Vote "Seriously Compromised" ------------------

Besigye has said his agents had been chased from many polling stations or detained by the army during the voting. He said Museveni supporters had engaged in multiple voting and some ballot boxes were stuffed.

Armed police were patrolling the streets of Kampala on Wednesday, but no incidents were reported.

Kasujja confirmed that he had received two letters from Besigye's camp complaining about the electoral process.

"It is Besigye's right to deny the results because everybody has the right to complain. But people voted during the day and the votes were counted in broad daylight -- I do not accept that there was rigging," he said.

International observers have yet to give their verdict on whether the polls were free and fair, but some have said they believed there were irregularities in some parts of the country.

"In a lot of places there was very little to be concerned about," one observer said. "In some places there was a lot to be concerned about."

Local monitors went even further, saying the irregularities may have "seriously compromised" the polls.

"There have been various cases of irregularities and of particular concern are the districts of Rukingiri, Kabale, Mbale and Soroti," said Pam Okille-Etiang of poll monitors Nemgroup.

"We have asked the EC (Electoral Commission) to investigate and seriously consider a rerun in these districts. The question we are now discussing is whether these irregularities have seriously compromised the whole election," Okille-Etiang.

Local observers and foreign journalists corroborated reports of rigging and intimidation by Museveni supporters in at least four of the country's 56 districts.

Museveni took power as the head of a guerrilla army 15 years ago and was elected president in 1996. He ended a nightmare period under dictator Idi Amin during which hundreds of thousands of Ugandans were tortured and killed.

Museveni rebuilt the economy, introduced free education, championed women's rights and brought AIDS under control. He also banned political parties, which he blamed for ethnic and sectarian hatred. Besigye's campaign tapped disillusionment among insiders and those left behind by the system.

(Reuter)