Election Time

On February 18th, Uganda will hold elections for it's president and parliament positions, along with other local seats. The last few weeks have been witness to many political rallies and you can definitely start to feel the tension in the air as the actual voting day approaches. Although we plan on staying out of Kampala for the next few weeks to avoid any potential repercussions of the election results, it has been interesting learning about the election process here as well as witnessing political rallies Ugandan style.

The current president is Museveni, and he is running for what I believe would be his fifth term in office should he win. When Uganda first broke free of Idi Amin's rule, parliament passed a law stating that the president could only serve for two terms. However, Museveni apparently disagreed with the reasoning behind that law and managed to retract it during his time in office. He has said that this year will mark the last time he runs for president (where have we heard that promise before? Oh yes, Egypt's president), but whether or not that is true remains to be seen.

While there are at least six different people running for president (including one woman!), Museveni's main contender is Besigye. He also ran against Museveni during the last election five years ago, and lost. However, Besigye challenged the legitimacy of the election results in court, saying that the ballots had been miscounted (probably true), but his case was thrown out.

Although Besigye presents Ugandans with a legitimate alternative to Museveni, from everything we've heard it is very unlikely that Museveni will lose. Museveni is the face of the biggest political party here, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). While many voters aren't particularly fond of Museveni, they don't think that any other candidate is as qualified as he is, so they are essentially choosing the lesser of two poor options. Museveni did bring a lot of peace and stability to Uganda over the past twenty years, but since he has remained in power for such a long time he has become somewhat of a dictator, even if a peaceful one.

The rallies and propaganda have been nothing short of hilarious. Rallies here consist of huge trucks mounted with speaker systems blasting music, supporters shouting phrases in Luganda into microphones, and posters of the candidate whom they are campaigning for plaster to the sides, fronts and backs of the trucks. Politics may sometimes seem serious and/or dry in the U.S., but here they are just one big party!

We've also seen some pretty funny posters of the politicians, especially Museveni. He comes from a military background and although he is probably in his sixties now, there are posters of him in which he has a bodybuilder's physique, his head photo shopped onto the neck, and gripping an AK-47. Can you imagine seeing Obama's face plastered onto something like that? The best part is, the voter's love these posters!

Well, that is the current political climate here in Uganda. It's been entertaining so far and we are anxious to see the results of the election. I am hopeful that everything will remain peaceful, I don't want the turmoil that is currently taking place in other countries in Africa to spread to Uganda as well!