Uganda's incumbent president Yoweri Museveni took an early lead in the country's election, preliminary results from the Electoral Commission showed on Friday.

The commission said Museveni garnered 1.36 million votes out of a total 2.32 million votes counted from 6,448 polling stations out of a total 28,010 stations.

The tally gave Museveni 61.75 percent of the votes counted, followed by opposition leader Kizza Besigye with 33.47 percent.

Other candidates included former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi who garnered 41,291 votes, representing 1.87 per cent.

After casting his vote on Thursday in his home district of Kiruhura District, Museveni called for calm amongst Ugandans as they wait for final results.

The Electoral Commission had to defer polls at some polling centres to today (Friday) owing to the late delivery of electoral logistics.

The Chairperson of the commission, Eng. Badru Kiggundu has said the final tally will be announced Saturday evening.

Agencies