Elections in Uganda

Uganda

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Uganda provides national elections for a president and a legislature. The president is elected for a five year term. The National Assembly has 292 members. 214 members are elected without party labels directly in single seat constituencies, while 78 members are elected from so-called special interest groups. These include 53 District Women Representatives (one from each district), 10 army representatives, 5 youth representatives, 5 representatives from the disabled and 5 from trade unions.

Overview

The first national election in Uganda was the Uganda National Assembly elections of 1962. An alliance between the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) and Kabaka Yekka (KY) won the majority of parliamentary seats, and formed Uganda's first post-independence government with Obote as executive Prime Minister

A period of dictatorship and political strife, including the tenures of Idi Amin, Yusuf Lule and Godfrey Binaisa, meant no elections were held until the presidential election of December 1980. Obote was pronounced the winner amid bitter dispute and allegations of electoral fraud. Yoweri Museveni, one of the presidential aspirants, declared an armed rebellion, and waged a guerrilla war (the Ugandan Bush War) against the government of Obote. Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA) took power in 1986 from the government of Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa who had six months earlier toppled Obote's UPC government in a July 27th 1985 bloodless military coup, making him President.

Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) created a form of "no-party democracy", banning political parties from fielding candidates directly in elections. In the "no-party" presidential election in 1996, Museveni defeated Paul Ssemogerere and Mohamed Mayanja by a landslide. Although international and domestic observers described the vote as valid, both the losing candidates rejected the results. In the following presidential election, held in 2001, Museveni won by a substantial majority, with Kizza Besigye as the only real challenger. Despite a protest against the results, citing massive voter intimidation and rigging, the outcome was accepted by the Supreme Court of Uganda.

In the 2005 constitutional referendum, Ugandans voted to restore a multi-party political system, lifting the 19-year restriction on the activities of political parties. The Ugandan general election of 2006 were the first multiparty election in 25 years. Museveni won 59% of the presidential vote, and his party, the National Resistance Movement, won the majority of parliamentary seats.

Latest elections (February 2006)

Main article: Ugandan general election, 2006

 Summary of the 23 February 2006 Ugandan presidential election results

Candidates - nominating parties	Votes	%
Yoweri Museveni - National Resistance Movement	4,109,449	59.26
Kizza Besigye - Forum for Democratic Change	2,592,954	37.39
John Ssebaana Kizito - Democratic Party	109,583	1.58
Abed Bwanika - Independent	65,874	0.95
Miria Obote - Uganda People's Congress	57,071	0.82
Total	6,934,931	100.00
Source: New Vision newspaper, Electoral Commission of Uganda

 Summary of the 23 February 2006 National Assembly of Uganda election results

Parties	Votes	%	Constituency seats	District woman reps.	Indirect seats	Total seats
National Resistance Movement			142	49	14	205
Forum for Democratic Change			27	10	-	37
Uganda People's Congress			9	-	-	9
Democratic Party			8	-	-	8
Conservative Party			1	-	-	1
Justice Forum			1	-	-	1
Independents			26	10	1	37
Vacant			1	-	-	1
Uganda People's Defence Force Representatives						10
Ex-officio members						10
Total (turnout 72 %)			215	69	15	319
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
Note on the Distribution of seats: – Constituency seats refers to directly elected constituency representatives (215) – District Woman Reps. refers to directly elected District Woman Representatives (69) – Indirect seats include: Representatives of the Youth (5), Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (5), and Representatives of Workers (5)

Past elections

General elections December 1980

Party	Seats
Uganda People's Congress	73
Democratic Party	52
Uganda Patriotic Movement	1
Conservative Party	0
Total seats	126
Source: Uganda, 1979-85: Leadership in Transition (1988), Jimmy K. Tindigarukayo

Presidential elections 1996

Candidate	Percentage
Yoweri Museveni	75.5%
Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere	22.3%
Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja	2.2%
Turnout	72.6%
Source: The Electoral Commission of Uganda: Presidential Elections Results 1996

Presidential elections 2001

Candidate	Number of votes	Percentage
Yoweri Museveni	5,123,360	69.4%
Kizza Besigye	2,055,795	27.7%
Aggrey Awori	103,915	1.4%
Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja	73,790	1.0%
Francis Bwengye	22,751	0.3%
Karuhanga Chapaa	10,080	0.1%
Turnout	7,511,606	69.7%
Source: The Electoral Commission of Uganda: Uganda Presidential Elections March 2001

Multiparty referendum 2005

Main article: Ugandan multiparty referendum, 2005

"Do you agree to open up the political space to allow those who wish to join different organisations/ parties to do so to compete for political power?"

Option	Number of votes	Percentage
Yes	3,643,223	92.4%
No	297,865	7.6%
Turnout	3,941,088	47.3%
Source: The Electoral Commission of Uganda

Source: [ Uganda Electoral Commission ]

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system

External links

• Museveni's Win in the 2011 Elections: What Does it Mean For Uganda's Politics?
• Uganda Electoral Commission
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• African Elections Database
• Voter turnout, Gender quotas, Electoral system design and Political party financing in Uganda