Country Report Uganda March 2011

The political scene: Mr Museveni wins re-election with widespread support

The president, Yoweri Museveni, won a comfortable re-election victory on February 18th, to secure his fifth term as president and the second since the multiparty system was introduced in 2006. He won 68% of the national vote, compared with 26% for his nearest rival, Kizza Besigye, candidate of the Forum for Democratic Change. None of the other six candidates made any significant impression, and only Norbert Mao and Olara Otunnu polled more than 1%. As in 2006, the presidential election was a two-horse race, with Mr Museveni improving on his 2006 performance by 10 percentage points and Mr Besigye losing 11 percentage points. Mr Museveni won more than 5m votes, up by more than 1m on 2006, whereas Mr Besigye's support, at just over 2m votes, fell by about half a million. The result was a resounding endorsement of Mr Museveni by the people of Uganda and will give him huge political authority.

Presidential election results, 2011
CandidatePartyVotes% of total
Kizza BesigyeForum for Democratic Change2,064,96326.0
Jaberi BidandiPeople's Progressive Party34,6880.4
Abed BwanikaPeople's Development Party51,7080.7
Beti KamyaUganda Federal Alliance52,7820.7
Norbert MaoDemocratic Party147,9171.9
Samuel MukaakuIndependent32,7260.4
Yoweri MuseveniNational Resistance Movement5,428,36868.4
Olara OtunnuUganda People's Congress125,0591.6
Total valid votes 7,938,211100.0
Source: Uganda Electoral Commission.

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