Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has taken a strong lead in results from Thursday's presidential election, the electoral commission says.
Figures announced on Friday afternoon put Museveni in front with 75% of the votes, based on returns from 60% of polling stations.
He is followed by opposition leader Bobi Wine on 21%. His home in the capital, Kampala, has been surrounded by security forces effectively placing him and his wife under house arrest, his National Unity Platform (NUP) said.
At least seven opposition supporters were killed in overnight violence in Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) south-west of Kampala, in clashes between opposition supporters and the police.
An internet blackout imposed earlier in the week means news of the violence is only emerging on Friday in Uganda - with differing accounts of what happened.
Opposition MP Muwanga Kivumbi told the AFP news agency that soldiers and police fired tear gas and then live bullets at hundreds of people who were following early results at his home.
Ten were killed inside my house, he said.
Human rights activist Agather Atuhaire confirmed this account to the Reuters news agency.
However, local police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe disputes this, maintaining police fired in self-defence after a group of NUP goons had attacked a police station and planned to overrun a tallying centre.
She told Reuters they were carrying machetes, axes and boxes of matches and said at least seven people had been killed.
Meanwhile, some local journalists say security forces have blocked them from accessing the opposition leader's home in Kampala's Magere area.
Security officers have unlawfully jumped over the perimeter fence and are now erecting tents within his compound, the NUP posted on X late on Thursday.
Police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told local broadcaster NBS that as a presidential contestant, Wine was a person of interest, adding that the heavy security deployment around his home was for his own security.
Following the 2021 election, in which he garnered 35% of the vote, Wine was confined to his home for several days by security forces.
Electoral chief Simon Byabakama said on Friday that the vote counting had not been affected by the internet blackout imposed earlier in the week, as the commission was using a private system to transmit results from districts to the national tally centre.
Ugandans voted in a tense national election on Thursday after an often violent campaign, with President Museveni, 81, seeking a seventh term in office.
Wine, a 43-year-old pop star-turned-politician, has alleged massive fraud during the election, which was held under an internet blackout. He did not provide documentary proof and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.
Last week, the United Nation's Human Rights Office said that the election would be marked by widespread repression and intimidation.
During Thursday's vote, voting was delayed by up to four hours in many polling stations around the country as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines, used to verify voters' identity, did not work properly.
Internet access was suspended on Tuesday, with Uganda's Communications Commission saying the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence - a move condemned by the UN human rights office as deeply worrying.
A Museveni victory would extend the former rebel leader's four-decade grip on power.
The final presidential result is expected to be announced by 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday, according to the electoral commission.
