– ‘Fear and intimidation’ –
Museveni, in power since 1986, will face his stiffest opposition from Kizza Besigye, a three-time loser for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), and Amama Mbabazi, a former prime minister and ruling party stalwart now running as an independent.
Besigye, once personal doctor to Museveni, has said Uganda stands at a “crossroads”, while Mbabazi has vowed to overturn changes to the constitution to restore term limits.
But with the two main opposition candidates being influential former members of the ruling party, critics say they struggle to offer a convincing alternative or to effectively criticise a system they created and benefitted from.
“Since independence, Ugandans have never experienced a turnover of power through the ballot box, and many question why February’s poll will be any different,” wrote Gabrielle Lynch from Britain’s University of Warwick, for the regional Nation Media group.
“Museveni and the NRM are spending a lot of money on their campaigns – with many arguing that expenditure is even higher than 2011 when excess spending helped fuel inflation and deplete state coffers,” Lynch added.
At the head of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, Museveni is widely expected to win another five-year term. Opposition challengers have failed to unite, dividing the vote of those opposed to his winning a fifth term.
The United States last month said it was concerned the electoral environment was “deteriorating”, saying that “reports of the police using excessive force, obstruction and dispersal of opposition rallies, and intimidation and arrest of journalists have contributed to an electoral climate of fear and intimidation”.
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