2011 Ugandan general election

General elections were held in Uganda on 18 February 2011. Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) was re-elected for a third time, having been in power since 1986. The NRM also won 263 of the 375 seats in Parliament.

2011 Ugandan general election

18 February 2011 (2011-02-18)
Registered13,954,129
Presidential election
Turnout59.29%
 
Nominee Yoweri Museveni Kizza Besigye
Party NRM FDC
Popular vote 5,428,369 2,064,963
Percentage 68.38% 26.01%

President before election

Yoweri Museveni
NRM

Elected President

Yoweri Museveni
NRM

Background

Museveni, a former guerilla commander, had ruled Uganda for nearly 30 years at the time of the elections. Kizza Besigye and Museveni faced each other for the third time, having previously been allies; Besigye was defeated by Museveni in the 2001 and 2006 elections.

Campaign

At the time of the elections, Uganda was facing a potential oil shock, which became a campaign issue.[1]

Eight candidates contested the presidential elections,[2] whilst a total of 1,713 candidates ran in the parliamentary elections; 1,270 for the constituency seats and 443 for the women's seats.[3] The NRM contested every constituency seat, putting forward a total of 364 candidates. The Forum for Democratic Change nominated 288, the Uganda People's Congress 135, the Democratic Party 120, the Uganda Federal Alliance 66, the People's Progressive Party 33, and the People's Development Party 18.[4]

Conduct

European Union observers said the election was "marred by avoidable and logistical failures, which led to an unacceptable number of Ugandan citizens being disenfranchised."[1]

Results

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Yoweri MuseveniNational Resistance Movement5,428,36968.38
Kizza BesigyeForum for Democratic Change2,064,96326.01
Norbert MaoDemocratic Party147,9171.86
Olara OtunnuUganda People's Congress125,0591.58
Beti KamyaUganda Federal Alliance52,7820.66
Abed BwanikaPeople's Development Party51,7080.65
Jaberi Bidandi SsaliPeople's Progressive Party34,6880.44
Samuel LubegaIndependent32,7260.41
Total7,938,212100.00
Valid votes7,938,21295.96
Invalid/blank votes334,5484.04
Total votes8,272,760100.00
Registered voters/turnout13,954,12959.29
Source: Electoral Commission

Parliament

PartyConstituencyWomenSeats
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsAppointedTotal+/–
National Resistance Movement3,883,20949.221643,803,60851.568613263+50
Forum for Democratic Change1,070,10913.56231,242,21816.8411034–3
Democratic Party476,4156.0411325,6604.411012+4
Uganda People's Congress265,5683.377237,4773.223010+1
Justice Forum50,1200.64110,7960.150010
Conservative Party48,2760.6111,0840.010010
Uganda Federal Alliance23,5850.30034,3460.47000
People's Progressive Party15,6920.20026,3200.36000
Forum for Integrity in Leadership8,8710.11000
Social Democratic Party5,6640.07000
Popular People's Democracy3,3990.04000
People's Development Party2,5260.0301,8530.03000
Liberal Democratic Transparency2,0350.0303,9970.05000
Green Partisan Party2970.00000
Uganda Economic Party2070.00000
Independents2,034,25025.78301,689,38922.9011243+3
Uganda People's Defence Force10100
Vacant11
Total7,890,223100.002387,376,748100.0011225375+56
Source: Election Passport, UC

Aftermath

The four-party Inter-Party Cooperation chairman Kizza Besigye said before the results were announced that the opposition "categorically rejects the outcome of the elections." He later warned that Uganda was ripe for an Egypt-style revolt after Museveni's more than two decades in power.[5] However, the protesters failed to amass in large numbers because, as The Christian Science Monitor suggested, a failure to tally its own results through its own SMS system was disrupted by the government, who also arrested hundreds of opposition field agents. They also suggested that Besigye did not believe his own claim of sparking a revolution. After losing out twice to Museveni – whose personal physician and loyal ally he once was – this third attempt seems to have shattered him.[6]

References

Further reading

  • Gibb, Ryan (2012). "Presidential and parliamentary elections in Uganda, February 18, 2011". Electoral Studies. 31 (2): 458–461. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2012.02.003.
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