KAMPALA: Partial results in Uganda’s chaotic election on Friday gave veteran President Yoweri Museveni a solid lead, as police arrested his main challenger for the third time this week.

As voting concluded on Friday, provisional results gave the 71-year-old leader 63 percent of the vote with nearly half of polling centres counted. His chief rival Kizza Besigye — in second place with 33 percent — was arrested again on Friday after police stormed his party headquarters in the capital.

The police raid came as people continued to vote at dozens of polling stations in the wider Kampala area, where voting was extended in 36 sites for a second day after delays on Thursday that Commonwealth election observers called “inexcusable.”

While Museveni maintained his lead in the presidential tally, at least 17 of his ministers lost their parliamentary seats, among them defence minister Crispus Kiyonga, who is spearheading regional efforts to end the political crisis in Burundi, and attorney general Fred Ruhindi.

The former rebel fighter faced a challenge from seven candidates, but is expected to win re-election for a 5th term in office and extend his 30-year rule of the east African country.