Museveni wins second term

By M.S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, MARCH 14. The Ugandan President, Mr. Yoweri Museveni, has won a second term, brushing aside the challenge from an erstwhile comrade.

According to the Electoral Commission, Mr. Museveni received 69.3 per cent of the valid votes cast. His principal rival and one- time comrade-in-arms, Dr. Kizza Besigye, trailed well behind with 27.3 per cent. The rest of the four candidates, barring Mr. Aggrey Awori with his political background in the Uganda People's Congress, secured less than one per cent of the vote. The voter turnout was a little over 70 per cent. In the presidential elections in May 1996, Mr. Museveni had secured 76 per cent of votes in a field which had two other candidates.

The victory of Mr. Museveni was expected. Politically, it vindicates his stand that the system of `non-party politics' represented by the National Resistance Movement is best suited to Uganda at present. It also puts the NRM at an advantage in the elections to a new Parliament which have to be held before June this year. In the previous parliamentary elections held, as the Presidential elections, on a `non-party' basis, most of the 276 elective seats were won by known NRM supporters, who of course, did not contest on any identifiable party ticket.

Rejecting the results which he characterised as `rigged', Dr. Besigye has said that he would challenge the poll outcome in the courts. Though preliminary breakdown of the figures indicate that he out-polled Mr. Museveni in many urban areas including Kampala district, Dr. Besigye described the whole electoral process as `grossly fraudulent' yesterday evening by when it was clear that Mr. Museveni was heading for a victory.

Complaints about electoral fraud, violence and intimidation were rife even throughout the election campaign. There have also been allegations of an inflated electoral roll and of the active involvement of the armed forces in intimidation of the electorate. Indeed, even Mr. Museveni supporters complained of intimidation and of attacks on supporters. However, reports from Kampala suggest that the irregularities, violence and intimidation which are an all too common feature of passionately contested elections, were not of an exceptionally high or unusual order.

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Section  : International
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