Uganda Presidential/Parliamentary elections 2016

On 18th February 2016, Ugandans went to the polls to chose a new president and parliament. This is the 7th such election in the history of Uganda. The election was held under tight security after the main presidential candidate Retired Colonel Kiiza Besigye conducted what he termed as a "Campaign of defiance" saying he didn't trust the Electoral commission to deliver a free and Fair election. There was apprehension and anxiety as the campaigns reached a climax and the issue of Violence after elections even dominated the 2nd and final presidential debate attended by all the 8 contenders where Museveni warned that Violence would not be tolerated. There was a mass exodus of People from kampala-the capital city to their upcountry homes while a good number foreign investors also fled with their capital to avoid any eventualities. There were 8 candidates one of them being a lady identified as Faith Kyalya Walube.The other 7 men are incumbent Yoweri Museveni(in power since 1986 after assuming state power as a rebel leader of the National Resistance Army/Movement-NRA/M), His former Physicist during the Bush war Dr Kiiza Besigye got 3,508,687 votes Dr Abed Bwanika got 89,005, Retired General Benon Biraaro got 25,600, and former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi garnered 136,519 votes, Eng.Mabiriizi 24,498 votes and Prof.Baryamureeba-52,798. Of the 15,277,198 eligible voters,9,851,812 people turned up to vote reflecting a turnout of 64% and there were 28,010 polling stations in the entire country and on Saturday 20th Feb 2016 while beating the constitutional provision deadline which obliges the Electoral commission to announce results within 48 hours after end of voting, the Chairman Electoral commission Engineer Badru Kiggundu announced results from 26,223 polling stations. The Chairman Electoral commission reasoned that even returns from the balance of 1787 would not alter the results which handed the incumbent Yoweri Museveni 60% and leading opposition candidate of FDC got 35%. The opposition cried foul play saying the election was a sham and dismissed the results as well. Three days later, the Electoral Commission came up with final tally results and dropped a bomb of having results from 129 polling stations cancelled. The electoral process has been marred by controversies from legislation to allegations of intimidation of opposition especially Forum for democratic Change-FDC. The opposition had all along called for electoral reforms including composition of the Electoral commission. Elections in Uganda are always contentious bearing in mind it is the disputed 1980 elections that sparked off a 5 year guerrilla war against the elected president Milton Obote. That election was also characterized by irregularities and it is widely believed that Democratic Party-DP was robed of election. The incumbent president of Uganda General Yoweri Museveni contested the 1980 polls as President of Uganda Patriotic Movement-UPM but lost miserably only getting One legislator Crispus Kiyonga whose Victory was also said to have been a protest vote by DP supporters after their Candidate-Muhindo was abducted and killed by what is believed to be UPC functionaries. The Feb 2016 Presidential election is the the 4th time Besigye is challenging his former Commander in Chief Yoweri Museveni in vain. Besigye has called for an audit of the results from international observers after a delegation of observers from the European union said the Feb 2016 fell short of international standard. It remains to be seen if FDC's Kiiza Besigye will petition the supreme court over what he termed as massive irregularities.