Uganda - Election 2001
On 12 March 2001, President Yoweri Museveni was reelected to a second 5-year term under the Constitution and continued to dominate the Government. He has ruled since 1986 through the National Resistance Movement, legislatively reorganized and renamed as "The Movement" in 1995. The Government's human rights record was poor, and there continued to be numerous, serious problems. Movement domination of the political process limited the right of citizens to change their government. Security forces used excessive force, at times resulting in death, and committed or failed to prevent some extrajudicial killings of suspected rebels and civilians. Security forces killed and injured several persons while intervening in clashes between supporters of different political candidates.
The Constitution provides for a 295-member unicameral parliament and an autonomous, independently elected president. The number of Members of Parliament (M.P.'s) increased following the implementation of a new law, which increased the number of districts, and an amendment to the Parliamentary Elections Statute, which increased the number of seats reserved for women and labor. On March 12, six candidates competed in the presidential elections, including President Museveni and Kizza Besigye, a former member of the army and presidential advisor. President Museveni won with 69.3 percent of the total votes cast, with 27.3 percent of the votes cast for Besigye. The four other candidates received less than 4 percent of the vote.
The institution of Parliament is weak compared with the Executive. The Parliament acted with continued independence and assertiveness during the year; however, this decreased significantly prior to the June parliamentary elections. In June parliamentary elections were held separately for the reserved and directly elected seats; M.P.'s were elected to 5-year terms, and more than 50 percent of those elected were new legislators. Movement supporters remained in control of the legislative branch; however, the number of M.P.'s openly belonging to opposition parties increased to 35 from 12, although the actual number probably is higher since the affiliations of several M.P.'s are unclear.
Movement domination of the Government and the political process and some restrictive constitutional provisions limited citizens' effective exercise of the right to change their government. Universal suffrage is accorded to adults 18 years of age and older. The Constitution does not provide the right to vote to prisoners, and prisoners were not permitted to vote in the elections during the year. The President dominated the Government, and Movement supporters remained in control of the Parliament; the independence and assertiveness of legislators decreased significantly prior to the June parliamentary elections. The March presidential and June parliamentary elections generally reflected the will of the population; however, there were numerous instances of election-related intimidation, violence, and electoral irregularities, including restrictions on political party activities, which led to a flawed election process.
The Government maintained, at government expense, the Movement Secretariat, an organization that roughly parallels government institutions and is limited to those professing support for the Movement. Political education and military science courses known as Chaka Mchaka continued during the year; the courses were not mandatory (see Section 2.a.). The Government prohibited some non-Movement political gatherings, required that employees in the President's office register their political affiliation in writing, and broke up numerous political meetings not sanctioned by the Movement (see Sections 1.f. and 2.b.). The June 2000 referendum on the role of political parties resulted in the indefinite extension of the Movement form of government and the indefinite continuation of these restrictions on political parties. The referendum process was flawed by restrictions on political party activities and unequal funding. In April the Parliament passed the Political Organizations Bill; however, the President vetoed it because of provisions that would allow political parties to operate at the district level.
In November 2000, the Parliament passed the Presidential Elections Bill, which governs the presidential election process; in December 2000, the President signed the law. The law permits election campaigns to commence after the Electoral Commission (EC) has approved a candidate's nomination. On January 8 and 9, the presidential nominations were held. Under the Local Government Act and the Electoral law, Parliament must approve funding for each electoral exercise. When the legislation is passed, it is submitted to the Ministry of Finance for allocation. The Government's failure to provide timely legislation for the presidential, parliamentary, and local elections impacted adversely on the exercise, and caused the EC funding to be delayed considerably and money for electoral materials to arrive late.
On March 12, six candidates competed in the presidential elections, including President Museveni and Kizza Besigye. President Museveni was reelected with 69.3 percent of the total votes cast, with 27.3 percent of the votes cast for Besigye. The four other candidates received less than 4 percent of the vote. On March 23, Besigye filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the results of the election; however, on April 21, the Court ruled 3-2 against Besigye, stating that he had failed to prove that the election was so flawed that a new election was required. The Court found that the EC was at fault for its handling of the election. On May 12, three EC officials were arrested and charged with abuse of office and neglect of duty for printing excess cards for the purpose of allegedly rigging the presidential election; on July 31, the charges were dropped. Besigye was detained or called in for questioning following the presidential and June parliamentary elections; he fled the country in August.
The presidential election generally reflected the will of the population; however, there were many complaints of irregularities prior to and on election day, which led to a flawed election process. These irregularities included: Insufficient time for voter registration, allegations of vote-buying, unauthorized persons tampering with voter rolls, double voting, persons' names being crossed off the voter list before they voted, and votes being given to President Museveni before the votes were cast. For example, in Gulu there were reports that UPDF soldiers were able to vote even if their voter card number did not match their registration number; civilians were not allowed to vote if their numbers did not match. There also were reports that soldiers intimidated voters. Although there were allegations that the voter register contained many illegal names, the percentage of all registered voters accounted for only 70.3 percent of the eligible voter poll.
Several civil and religious organizations prohibited their members from campaigning for candidates during the presidential elections. There were reports that UPDF officers campaigned, and a UPDF officer reportedly was arrested and another went into hiding to avoid arrest for violating army rules against campaigning. The Inspector General of Police restricted presidential candidates and their agents from conducting campaigns in police barracks and cautioned police against wearing T-shirts of candidates, carrying out campaigns, and putting up of posters. The Anglican Church directed its clergy to stop campaigning in churches and not to display candidates' posters.
Army commander Major General Jeje Odongo was appointed head of the country's internal security (in limited "Security Zones of Specified Interest") during the election period. There were numerous reports of election-related violence and intimidation by both the Government and the opposition prior to and on election day. Police and UPDF forces also harassed and detained opposition politicians and supporters.
The Constitution requires elections through electoral colleges for the 81 special interest group seats reserved for women (56), organized labor (5), persons with disabilities (5), youth (5), and the army (10); however, the UPDF High Command, chaired by President Museveni, elected the 10 army representatives. Salim Saleh, Museveni's brother, was elected in the army election. The number of seats for women increased from 38 to 56 and from 3 to 5 for organized labor in the June elections. In 2000 the Parliamentary Elections Statute was amended to increase the number of worker representatives from three to five, the same as all of the other special interest groups. On June 18-22, the elections were held for these seats; there were allegations of vote rigging and vote buying in some of the elections.
On June 26, elections were held for the 214 directly elected parliamentary seats. There was an increase in the number of M.P.'s following the implementation of a law that increased by 12 the number of districts. Although there were numerous instances of election-related intimidation and violence, observers stated that the elections generally reflected the will of the population. Despite active campaigning by President Museveni and influential members of the Movement, many important Movement M.P.'s lost their seats in the elections; however, a number of them lost to other Movement candidates, which suggested that their defeats were due to local concerns rather than political affiliation. The number of opposition M.P.'s increased to 35 from 12, including 9 UPC (former President Milton Obote's party) M.P.'s and at least 6 M.P.'s from the Democratic Party (DP). Others are affiliated loosely with the DP, and the affiliations of several other M.P.'s are unclear. On June 30, President Museveni stated in a press conference that the Movement had grown stronger in this latest round of elections. He counted 230 M.P.'s in the Movement ranks, giving it a clear majority; however, a number of moderate Movement M.P.'s, including some M.P.'s who were at the forefront of the fight against corruption in the Sixth Parliament, kept their seats in spite of Museveni's active campaigning for their opponents.
Prior to the both sets of June parliamentary elections, the President threatened to campaign against opposition candidates, including Movementists, and such threats increased immediately prior to the election days. During the week of June 11, while addressing an FM radio audience, Museveni accused Winnie Babihuga, incumbent Rukungiri women's M.P. and Besigye supporter, of engaging in election malfeasance, suggesting that she and others could be arrested; Babihuga was not reelected. Museveni appeared at rallies supporting his favored candidates and used the occasion to criticize their opponents.
Election results in several districts were challenged and resulted in recounts. The most notable occurred in Mbarara Municipality. M.P. Winnie Byanyima defeated her opponent Mbarara RDC Ngoma Ngime despite strong support for Ngime by President Museveni and other Movement officials. Ngime challenged the results in the Mbarara Chief Magistrate's court, and on July 4, the Chief Magistrate ordered a recount of Byanyima's votes. During the initial recount, several of the ballot boxes were discovered not to be sealed properly, and the number of ballots in the boxes did not match the official tally sheet within each box. Byanyima petitioned the Mbarara High Court to stay the recount. On July 6, the recount was stayed. Ngime and presidential advisor Fox Odoi requested that the Principal Justice of the Supreme Court intervene; however, the Justice stated that he did not have jurisdiction. On July 17, the High Court ruled in favor of Byanyima and ordered the recount stayed indefinitely.
In the Igara East district in the west, M.P. candidate Spencer Patrick Turwomwe challenged the result of the June 26 election and alleged that his opponent Richard Nduhuura voted twice. On September 18, the High Court annulled the results of the election, and Nduhuura lost his seat after he was found guilty of voting twice. On November 17, a by-election was held; Nduhuura won in what observers viewed to be a generally free and fair election.
Newspaper, radio, and television coverage, in particular coverage by state-owned media of the March presidential and June parliamentary elections favored Movement activities. Efforts to promote activities by opposition candidates received less coverage in the media than the President.
The law sets educational requirements for candidates for public office. Although these requirements are not new, candidates in the March and June elections were required to prove that they met the requirements. Several candidates were disqualified because of false papers, and at least one M.P. resigned his position because it was discovered that he had forged education papers.
During the year, the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) began soliciting the public's opinion and holding public hearings on amending the 1995 Constitution. The CRC was set up to examine the constitutional provisions relating to sovereignty, political systems, democracy, and good governance; however, it did not receive sufficient funding to carry out its mandate.
The percentage of women in government and politics does not correspond to their percentage of the population; however, they play an influential role in national affairs. The Government used quotas in an aggressive effort to place women in positions of authority. Women continued to make strong contributions in Parliament and inside the Movement. The Vice President is a woman, as are 4 ministers and 12 junior ministers in the President's 66-member Cabinet. One woman serves as Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and another woman heads the CID. On November 1, four female members were elected to represent the country on the East African Community (EAC) legislative Assembly. Elections for special interest group seats reserved for women in Parliament were held in the 12 new districts created during the year, and women won 12 additional nonreserved seats for the 295-member Parliament in the June election; as a result, there are 78 female M.P.'s in the Seventh Parliament.
The percentage of minorities in government and politics does not correspond to their percentage of the population (see Section 5). The first M.P. of Asian ethnicity was elected for one of the reserved youth seats in Parliament in June; however, he resigned after it was discovered that he had forged his secondary school diploma.
Observers believed that the March presidential and June parliamentary elections generally reflected the will of the population; however, both were marred seriously, particularly in the period leading up the elections, by restrictions on political party activities, incidents of violence, intimidation, fraud, and electoral irregularities that led to a flawed election process. A 2000 national referendum, on the role of political parties formally extended the Movement form of government indefinitely and severely restricted political activities; it was under review at year's end. The referendum process was flawed by restrictions on political party activities and unequal funding. During the year, the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) began work to amend the 1995 Constitution. The judiciary generally is independent but is understaffed and weak; the President has extensive legal powers.
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