Uganda government rejects election re-run and protest calls

By Philip Thon Aleu

February 25, 2011 (KAMPALA) – The Ugandan government has vowed to crush any protest against the recently concluded presidential and parliamentary polls, which were won by the ruling party.

Opposition parties in Uganda have called for the protests, claiming that the vote was not free and fair.

Information minister Kabakumba Matsiko told a local daily newspaper that the government is prepared to “suppress” the uprising.

Matsiko was quoted by Uganda’s newspaper, the Daily Monitor, as saying that the opposition’s “call is of no consequence because we shall easily suppress” it.

On Thursday, opposition presidential candidates said in a joint statement that they had “met and agreed” that “the entire [electoral] process and it outcome have not been free and fair” and called for peaceful protests nationwide to press the government for fresh elections.

The opposition statement said the only option left was “to challenge the results of this sham election, is for the people to assert their sovereign power.”

Uganda went to the polls on 18, February to vote for a president and parliamentarians. President Yoweri Museveni won the polls by scoring 68% and his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) scooped 279 parliamentary seats compared to 56 for opposition parties. Opposition parties allege that vote rigging and pre-ticking of ballots papers took place.

The Kampala mayoral elections had to be postponed on Wednesday February 23 when the Electoral Commission, the body organizing polls, acknowledged cases of malpractice. Opposition leaders say this proves there was also fraudulence in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The opposition call on Thursday for peaceful protests, on an unspecified date, also demanded that there be a re-run of the elections.

Business continued normally in Kampala, the Uganda capital on Friday but the military remain a visible presence on the streets.

(ST)