Uganda: The chaotic election is over, what comes next?

Uganda is bracing for a charged vote next week after a campaign mired in disarray and violence, with President Yoweri Museveni accused of seeking to hold onto power at any cost.

Candidates have been arrested, rallies banned, and dozens of protesters killed in the chaotic and bloody run-up to the January 14 election, which is going ahead despite a surging coronavirus pandemic.

Some 18 million voters are registered for the presidential and parliamentary ballot, which pits Museveni and his dominant National Resistance Movement (NRM) against a host of opposition candidates and parties.

The 76-year-old has been president since 1986, making him one of Africa's longest-serving leaders.

His campaign posters -- each in the signature yellow of the ruling party, and bearing a smiling Museveni in his folksy broad-brimmed hat -- are confidently counting down the days to his win.

"We are certain of victory," said the former rebel leader in January.