Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has hailed the Supreme Court's decision to throw out the opposition leader's petition for a re-run of the presidential elections, a statement said on Friday.

The court's ruling has been rejected by Kizza Besigye, the incumbent's main rival in the February presidential race and leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), who vowed to continue his efforts of nullifying Museveni's victory.

Museveni, however, said that the petition is a very important phase in the country's political evolution, if referring to the tribal politics in the pre-colonial era.

Museveni defeated four candidates in the country's first multiparty elections in the last 20 years on February 23, securing a third five year term after the parliament amended the law to scrap the term limits.

The referendum held last June has voted for the return of a multiparty political system after it was replaced by a movement system introduced by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in 1986.

The NRM Secretary General, Arnama Mbabazi said the court affirmed the decisions of wananchi, which was in compliance with the decision of the international observers that elections were fair and free.

Museveni thanked his lawyers and administrators for ensuring victory in the Supreme Court while addressing a party hosted by the ruling party NRM on Thursday.

He also urged the lawyers to join the bench as means of strengthening the judicial service as some upcountry courts are understaffed and that there is need to improve service to wananchi.

The president thanked the Electoral Commission for doing a commendable job, noting that they only need to streamline some of the presiding and registration officers.

Source: Xinhua