KAMPALA, Uganda - The results of Uganda's recent elections answered one question: President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled this country of about 26 million people since taking power in 1986, will sit in Kampala's State House for at least five more years.

When Mr. Museveni came to power after a five-year guerrilla bush war, he waited 10 years before holding elections. Even then, the elections took place through his single-party National Resistance Movement, where voters chose individuals rather than political parties.

Mr. Museveni won elections in 1996 and again in 2001, also under the one-party system. In 2005, Mr. Museveni, under international pressure, opened up elections to a multiparty system through a popular referendum. He also persuaded - many in Uganda say bribed - parliament to rewrite the constitution to allow him to run for a third term.

Godfrey Ssebuwufu of Uganda Citizen's Rescue, a local human rights group, said he fears that Mr. Museveni's victory will cause Ugandans to stop caring about the political process.

Most of the support for Mr. Museveni's opponent, Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change, came from voters' desire for a change in leadership, and not any love for the candidate.

Mr. Museveni's election may stop Ugandans from thinking they can make a difference when it comes to their political future, Mr. Ssebuwufu said. "They will think it won't matter" and not turn out to vote in 2011, he added.

On election day, the government blocked the Web site of the Daily Monitor, a raucous opposition newspaper. A legal adviser to Mr. Museveni reportedly had one Monitor reporter hit in the face with a shotgun butt. Reporters there have said they fear what will happen with five more years of Mr. Museveni's National Resistance Movement government.

The question of foreign donors' reaction to the elections hangs over the country. Uganda receives about 50 percent of its budget from foreign assistance, much of it from Great Britain, Ireland and other European countries.

Despite the massive aid his government receives, Mr. Museveni blames the international community for his country's problems, including the crippling power cuts that leave parts of Kampala, the capital, without electricity for as much as 24 hours at a time.

He has vowed that Uganda will find the money for more dams and will not let the donor community dictate how Uganda governs its security, economic and energy affairs.

"If we make mistakes, we will make our own mistakes," he said. "We will not make other people's mistakes," he added, to furious applause from tens of thousands of supporters at his last campaign rally.

The impact of international pressure may already be showing up in Ugandan water and energy policy. The country announced last week that it would cut back on the amount of water it runs through its main hydroelectric dam where Lake Victoria meets the Nile River.

Mr. Museveni's move to amend the constitution last year already raised the ire of donor countries. And the arrest of Dr. Besigye in November on treason and rape charges was the last straw for some.

Still, there does not appear to be much the international community can do. In its interim election report, the EU called on the Ugandan government to dismantle the Movement - but only if the Ugandan people decide to do it.

Having the threat of a decrease in aid looming over Uganda, however, is enough. Dr. Paul Ocheng, a political science professor at Kampala's Makere University, says that if the donor community punishes Uganda for its post-election conduct by significantly cutting aid, the results would be devastating.

Mr. Museveni's future appears to be unsettled as well. Despite saying earlier that he would consider running for office again in 2011 - with hopes of becoming president of a united East Africa that would include Kenya and Tanzania - he has started to drop hints that this term may be his last.

"And if I would have contributed to that, I would be the most satisfied man and definitely the mandate of this presidency would end in 2011," he told Reuters from his ranch in Rwakitura, western Uganda.

Questions about Uganda's immediate future are just as unsettled. The opposition FDC last week asked Uganda's Supreme Court to nullify the election results because of massive fraud, much as Dr. Besigye's supporters charged in 2001. The court that year ruled that there was vote-rigging but not enough to sway the results.

Dr. Besigye fought in the bush war that brought the National Resistance Movement to power and was Mr. Museveni's personal physician. He has said that he and his supporters will not return to armed struggle.

"It's a registered political party, and as such all of its actions will be legal and political," Dr. Besigye told reporters at a news conference at his Kampala home shortly after election results were announced.

"Each and every person voted for the colonel," said Joshua Mayanja, 22, referring to Dr. Besigye's former military rank. "Ugandans are tired. The president went to the bush with only 27 guns. That means we can do something against him."

Although few expect the opposition to start a war over the results, whether they intend to carry out their threat may be the biggest question hanging over Uganda in the coming months and years.

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