Uganda is Making Way to Democracy

Ballots were being counted across Uganda on Friday after the country’s first multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in 26 years ended peacefully.
With over 98% of polling stations having sent in their results, the Electoral Commission has declared at 4:55pm (EA time) that President
Yoweri Museveni has won the presidential
elections with a 59.28% lead.
At that rate, the next in line, Rtd. Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye managed to score only 37.36%. DP’s Ssebaana Kizito took a third position with 1.58% of the votes while UPC’s Miria Obote was trailing with 0.82% behind Independent Dr. Abed Bwanika who got only 0.95% of the votes. The incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni, was seeking re-election after 20 years in power against the main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye.
Security was tight following the deployment
of 12,000 police and army personnel across the country. Supporters of Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party claimed that there were several irregularities, such as cases of voters who were not registered.
Secretary to Uganda’s Electoral Commission,
Sam Rwakoojo said the exercise had gone well. “So far, so good,” he said on Thursday,
adding that turnout had been high.
Reports from the war-ravaged northern region have shown Besigye had taken a lead in the area. In this particular region, over one million people have been displaced by the conflict. Museveni had a lead in the central and western regions. This trend was repeated in parliamentary elections where a majority of parliamentary candidates allied to Museveni’s party, the National Resistance Movement Organization
was trailing in the north and east. FDC candidates were trailing in the western region.
About 10.4 million Ugandans were eligible to vote for one of five the presidential candidates,
and hundreds of parliamentary candidates
running for 284 seats.
A presidential candidate needs at least 50 percent of votes cast to win. As in many other countries, should neither candidate get this percentage, a second round will be organized between the two leading candidates within 30 days. Museveni is a 62-year old ex-guerrilla chief who seized power in a 1986 coup, and one of Africa’s longest-serving presidents.
The big question is, “does democracy mean peace in Uganda’s Northern region, obviously held by the opposition party?