2001 Ugandan presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Uganda on 12 March 2001. The incumbent Yoweri Museveni won 69% of the vote and was elected to a second term.[1] All candidates were independents, as political parties were banned at the time. Voter turnout was 70.3%.

2001 Ugandan presidential election

12 March 2001
Registered10,775,836
Turnout70.31%
 
Candidate Yoweri Museveni Kizza Besigye
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 5,123,360 2,055,795
Percentage 69.33% 27.82%

Results by district
Museveni:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Besigye:      50–60%      70–80%      80–90%

President before election

Yoweri Museveni
Independent

Elected President

Yoweri Museveni
Independent

Candidates

Yoweri Museveni was running for his second term in office in 2001. He took power in 1986 after winning a guerrilla war against President Tito Okello. Museveni's main rival was four-time rival Kizza Besigye, who was Museveni's personal physician and a military officer who broke ties with the NRM government in 2001.[2]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Yoweri MuseveniIndependent5,123,36069.33
Kizza BesigyeIndependent2,055,79527.82
Aggrey AworiIndependent103,9151.41
Kibirige MayanjaIndependent73,7901.00
Francis BwengyeIndependent22,7510.31
Karuhanga ChapaaIndependent10,0800.14
Total7,389,691100.00
Valid votes7,389,69197.54
Invalid/blank votes186,4532.46
Total votes7,576,144100.00
Registered voters/turnout10,775,83670.31
Source: African Elections Database

Post-election events

Besigye did not concede the race but instead requested a formal vote recount on the basis of voter fraud. Museveni also claimed that there was a "rigging" of the vote, albeit in Besigye's favour; he also remarked that he should have won 75% of the vote instead. The independent election watchdog Election Monitoring Group found voter fraud to be minimal.[2][3] The same day after results were announced, a pipe bomb exploded in downtown Kampala, killing one woman; a similar explosion occurred on a minibus headed towards the capital, injuring three people. However, it was not immediately clear if the explosions were related to the presidential election.[2] In a majority decision, the Supreme Court of Uganda subsequently rejected Besigye's petition for a recount.[4][5] Shortly after being elected to a second term as president, Museveni pledged to step down before the next election but subsequently walked back on his promise.[6]

References

  1. Elections in Uganda African Elections Database
  2. Fisher, Ian (15 March 2001). "Final Count Has Uganda President Winning 69% of Vote". The New York Times.
  3. Borzello, Anna (14 March 2001). "Uganda's Museveni leads in 'rigged' elections". The Guardian.
  4. Dagne, Ted. "Uganda: Recent Elections and Current Conditions" (PDF). CRS Report for Congress.
  5. "2001 elections: Supreme Court Judges ruling". Daily Monitor. 16 December 2006. Archived from the original on 15 July 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  6. "Yoweri Museveni - Uganda's president profiled". BBC. 17 February 2016.
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