|
|
| There were irregularities but UPC did not steal 1980 poll | ||||||
| May 1 - 7, 2005 | ||||||
|
Although many people claim that the 1980 election was won by the Democratic Party and stolen by the Uganda Peoples Congress, I have not seen or heard any evidence backing it up. All there are anecdotal stories here and cooked up facts there. I agree there were significant irregularities in the 1980 election process. But that is not evidence that without them DP would have won. In the Supreme Court case Kizza Besigye brought against President Museveni after the 2001 presidential elections, court ruled that although there were significant irregularities, they were not sufficient to alter the final outcome. Why? The Constitution does not rule out the possibility of irregularities in an electoral process for the simple reason that human nature cannot be trusted to produce such perfection.
However, courts are supposed to adjudicate on whether the results reflect the freely expressed will of the people. Irregularities alone cannot overturn an election. They must be widespread enough so as to alter the final outcome as well. Let me be clear: I am not an apologist for electoral fraud; elections should be free and fair. But we should also not be idealistic and hope for perfection. The claim that Military Commission Chairman Paulo Muwanga rigged the election in favour of the UPC is based on a proclamation he issued on December 11, 1980. What did the proclamation say? What were its legal implications? Here are the facts: the election was held on December 10, 1980. Because of delays in delivering ballot papers to some areas, the Electoral Commission requested the Military Commission to extend the day and time of polling to the next day. According to the Provision of Section 21(2)(a) of the National Assembly (Elections) Act, polling in Uganda was supposed to begin and end on the same day. Muwanga's declaration was partly meant to legalise the extension of balloting to December 11. The National Assembly (Elections) Act had envisaged ballot boxes being taken to district headquarters where counting would take place the next day. The December 11, proclamation was again partly meant to give legal effect to immediate counting at polling centres. The third aspect of the declaration is the most controversial, for Muwanga now arrogated himself sole power to announce the results as well as the power to declare the poll in individual constituencies to be invalid. The proclamation imposed severe penalties on anyone announcing the results and provided that no decision of the chairman of the Military Commission could be challenged in any court of law. I am inclined to believe Milton Obote's story that he went to see Muwanga at Nile Mansions and compelled him to withdraw the proclamation. This claim is confirmed by Tony Avigan and Martha Honey, the two British journalists who covered the war against Idi Amin and the entire 1979-1981 period in Uganda in their book War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin. It is even further confirmed by the report of the Commonwealth observers who said that after hearing the announcement, they immediately sought audience with Muwanga to protest. "We were unable to meet the Chairman of the Military Commission until early the next morning," their report says. "We found that in advance to our representations, he (Muwanga) had already prepared a press statement which he had agreed with the leaders of the UPC and the DP and which had the effect of preserving the proclamation in force [because of the positive way it had amended the election law] whilst authorising returning officers and the Electoral Commission to publicly announce results." The Commonwealth observers grabbed the report, gave it to the press and after a few hours, returning officers and the Electoral Commission began to announce the results - the first results being announced on Radio Uganda shortly after 2 p.m on December 12, 1980. Muwanga and the Military Commission did not validate or announce the results. For instance, the claim was even made of a success in Gulu, where we knew that the UPC was taking over 90 percent of the vote." The Commonwealth observers, who were not friendly to the UPC at all and their report does accuse the state machinery of favouring UPC in many instances, further said: "At no stage did we lend credence to the claims made by the DP that they had won a clear majority. Rather we contacted the DP to advise it of the position as we understood it to be, and subsequently the DP confirmed to us that some of its information from outlaying districts had been incorrect." In their report, the Commonwealth observers conclude thus: "We have expressed at some length our reservations regarding nominations and the number of unopposed returns: without doubt this is an area most open to criticism, but it is one where the courts have power to provide redress. |
Don't just search. Find. MSN Search Check out the new MSN Search!
--- Begin Message ---
--- End Message ---
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
