Ugandans turned out in large numbers today to vote amidst heavy downpours in the country’s first multiparty election in more than 25 years.

The landmark poll was widely seen as a referendum on President Yoweri Museveni’s 20-year rule, which critics say has become increasingly authoritarian.

Four candidates stood against him, but his former comrade-in-arms and physician, Kizza Besigye, posed the greatest threat, even after having to split his time between campaigning and standing trial for treason, rape and other charges that he and his supporters maintain were trumped up to hurt him in the election.

In Gulu, an opposition stronghold in Uganda’s war-ravaged north, voters queued while dark rain clouds gathered. The polling stations, marked out by white tape and situated on football fields, in market squares and battered schools, serve the population of nearby refugee camps, the temporary home of people fleeing the war.

Voters told the chief European Union electoral observer, Max van den Berg, that they held Mr Museveni’s regime responsible for their plight.

"I will vote for the key," said Robert Ogek in reference to the campaign symbol of Mr Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change. "We want the key so that we can finally go home."

Gulu has been at the epicentre of the nearly 20-year rebellion by the Lord's Rebel Army (LRA) militia, that has killed tens of thousands, displaced nearly two million people and left the civilian population of the conflict-shattered region in terror.

The Ugandan military said that it had foiled at least one attempted election-day attack by the LRA, on a vehicle carrying voting materials.

"They tried to ambush this vehicle but our foot patrols intercepted them and killed one, capturing one gun," Lieutenant Chris Magezi, the spokesman for the Ugandan army’s northern region.

Voting started late at many polling stations, either due to the weather or to the late arrival of materials. Nevertheless, by mid-afternoon most stations indicated a turnout of more than 60 per cent.

Mr Museveni was ahead in opinion polls before the election, but was struggling to get more than 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a run-off.

The switch to multiparty elections had been seen as a step toward greater democracy. Mr Museveni had argued in the past that the no-party system was the antidote to tribal divisions that led to years of civil strife.

But he changed positions last year and campaigned for the "yes" vote in a July referendum in which voters approved multiparty politics.

That same month, though, parliament changed the constitution to lift presidential term limits, allowing the President to run for a third term - and fanning speculation he wants remain leader for life.

Mr Museveni has frustrated international donors and reformists at home by intervening in neighboring Congo’s civil war, increasing military spending and refusing to retire from politics as he had promised to do in 2001.

Nonetheless, today’s election "gives me the good hope that something in the climate in this country is changing politically in favor of multiparty democracy," said Mr van den Berg.

Human rights groups have said the elections were unlikely to be free and fair because of violence and intimidation by security forces loyal to Mr Museveni and his National Resistance Movement. They add that the criminal charges brought against Mr Besigye before the campaign were politically motivated and hampered his bid.

But Mr Museveni, 62, has rejected the criticisms of his regime. In an address to the nation on state-run radio and television on the eve of the election, he told Ugandans that voting was not a joke.

"It is a matter of life and death," he said. "If you decide wrongly, you will bear the consequences. It has happened in the past. It can happen again."

Electoral officials across the country reported orderly voting and a high turn out. The main problems regarded voters not finding their names on the electoral register. The Electoral Commission registered 10.4 million voters for the election and many people struggled to find their polling station.

The FDC has complained of "multiple irregularities" in the polls and says it may challenge the result in court. But a government spokesman dismissed the claims. He said that the government had expected the FDC to take legal action, even before the polls, and rubbished FDC claims that voters’ names were missing from the register due to foul play.

"We are satisfied. The Electoral Commission and security services did their bit and the voters conducted themselves well," Ofwono Opondo told Reuters. "I think the opposition are bad losers."

Ugandans were also choosing 284 members of parliament. The law requires that final results be announced before 1400 GMT on Saturday.

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