A walkover for Museveni?

By M.S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, MARCH 9. The Ugandan President, Mr. Yoweri Museveni, leads a field of six candidates in the Presidential election to be held on March 12.

The election is widely expected to be a walkover for him. However, as always, credible opposition to him has emerged from within the NRM itself. Though there are six candidates, the most serious challenge to Mr. Museveni appears to be Dr. Kizza Besigye, once one of his closest comrades. Dr. Besigye, a physician, was closely involved in the liberation struggle, being one of the 38 `historical members of the National Resistance Council', in the words of a political profile. When the NRM assumed power, Dr. Besigye was appointed a Minister of State for Internal Affairs. Later, he became the NRM's National Political Commissar.

Initially, there were seven candidates. However, Mr. Naseer Sebaggala, former mayor of Kampala, withdrew and is now campaigning for Dr. Besigye. The other candidates are Mr. Aggrey Awori, formerly Uganda's permanent representative to the European Union, with a UPC political background; Mr. Francis Bwenge, a lawyer, with a Democratic Party background; Mr. Chppa Karuhanga, a businessman who belongs to the National Democratic Party; and Mr. Kibinge Mayaja, an educationist.

Elections, though highly politicised, continue to be conducted on a so-called `non-party' basis, with the `Movement Political System' prevailing. The system, a euphemism for Mr. Museveni's unique brand of `non-party politics', was endorsed in the referendum in July last year.

However, political parties are not banned; only mobilisation on the basis of political parties is not allowed. Thus, formally speaking, even the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which under the leadership of Mr. Museveni led the struggle against `misrule and dictatorship' and whose armed wing, the National Resistance Army, actually won the armed struggle, is not a political party though it is the ruling party except in name. Indeed, the political affiliations of at least three of the six candidates in the fray, some going back to the days of former President, Dr. Milton Obote, are well known, though formally none of them is contesting on a party ticket.

The first elections under the new constitution were held in two phases: for the office of the President in May 1996 and for a new Parliament in June 1996. Mr. Museveni won the Presidential poll handsomely, securing over 76 per cent of the popular vote. In the elections to Parliament a month later, NRM supporters (without formally being identified so) won the majority of the 214 elected seats. The Opposition parties which could not function freely stayed away from the parliamentary poll, though about 20 persons known to belong to the opposition parties, mainly Uganda Peoples' Congress and the Democratic Party, were elected.

The winning candidate has to secure more than 50 per cent of the valid votes. In case no candidate secures such a clear majority of the popular vote, there will be run off within 30 days of the declaration of the results between the two candidates securing the highest number of votes.

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Section  : International
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