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Uganda backs multi party politics
Very few Ugandans voted in a referendum on changing their country?s political system, but early results on Friday showed the majority heeded President Yoweri Museveni?s call to bring back parties after 19 years.
The final tally was still being calculated, but results from 15 percent of polling stations showed more than 90 percent of voters had backed a return to multi party politics. Only about 28 percent of registered voters cast ballots on Thursday.
Observers said the turnout had been disappointing for what should have been a landmark vote after nearly two decades of ?no-party? rule by Museveni?s Movement.
He banned parties when he seized power in 1986, but now says the country is developed enough for political competition.
Opposition groups said the $12.5 million referendum was a waste of money since the government already accepted the need to return to multi-partyism, and they said it legitimised 19 years of one-party rule in Uganda.
They say Museveni?s change of heart is a ploy to appease increasingly impatient donors who fund nearly half the budget.
Donors have been pushing for a return to parties politics and some have withheld aid over concerns about democracy, including the scrapping of presidential term limits that would have barred Museveni from running for re-election next year.
Many voters said they cast «yes» ballots because that was what the president wanted ? but knew little about the issues.
All Ugandans are notionally members of his National Resistance Movement (NRM), and candidates for local office are supposed to be selected on merit, not party affiliation. But critics say it has functioned like a one-party state.
An opposition boycott and heavy rain in much of the country were also blamed for the poor participation.
Daniel WALLIS
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