General elections were held in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

on 23 February 2006. They were the first

multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in c ...

elections since President

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and retired senior military officer who has been the 9th and current President of Uganda since 26 January 1986. Museveni spearheaded rebellions with aid of then ...

took over power in 1986, and followed a referendum the previous year on scrapping the ban on party politics. Museveni ran for a second re-election as the

National Resistance Movement The National Resistance Movement ( sw, Harakati za Upinzani za Kitaifa; abbr. NRM) has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986. History The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla ...

(NRM) candidate. His main opponent was the leader of the

Forum for Democratic Change The Forum for Democratic Change ( sw, Jukwaa la Mabadiliko ya Kidemokrasia; FDC), founded on 16 December 2004, is the main opposition party in Uganda. The FDC was founded as an umbrella body called Reform Agenda, mostly for disenchanted former m ...

Kizza Besigye Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe (born 22 April 1956), known as Colonel. Dr. Kizza Besigye, is a Ugandan physician, politician, and former military officer in the Uganda People's Defence Force. He served as the president of the Forum for Democrati ...

. Besigye was arrested on 14 November 2005 on allegations of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, concealment of treason, and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

. The treason case included his alleged links to the rebel groups,

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement, is a rebel group and heterodox Christian group which operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Co ...

and

People's Redemption Army People's Redemption Army (PRA) is a Ugandan rebel group whose existence is disputed. The Government of Uganda has asserted its existence for several years, although it has occasionally called the rebel group "dormant". The rebel group is allegedly b ...

, and the rape charge referred to an incident in November 1997 allegedly involving the daughter of a friend. The arrest led to demonstrations and riots in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

and towns around the country. Pro-Besigye protesters believed the charges were fabricated to stop Besigye from challenging Museveni. The result of the presidential election was a victory for Museveni, who received 59 percent of the vote; Besigye took 37 percent. In the parliamentary elections the NRM won 213 of the 319 seats.

Campaign

Justice Forum The Justice Forum (commonly referred to as JEEMA) is a political party in Uganda. The party was originally established as a pressure group in 1995 under the one-party system of the National Resistance Movement, as other political parties were no ...

leader Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Ken Lukyamuzi John Ken Lukyamuzi, more commonly known as Ken Lukyamuzi, is a Ugandan politician and lawyer, who is the leader of the Conservative Party of Uganda. He served in the 7th parliament (2001–2006) as the elected representative for Lubaga South (R ...

decided not to contest, but said they would support a joint candidate agreed to by the "Group of Six" opposition political parties. Independent candidate

Nasser Sebaggala Nasser Ntege Sebaggala (15 November 1947 – 26 September 2020) was a Ugandan businessman and politician who was Mayor of Kampala from 2006 to 2011. He was an independent presidential candidate in the 2006 general election before dropping out an ...

registered, but later decided to quit the presidential race, and asked his supporters to vote for the DP's Kizito.

Conduct

The elections were marred by controversy, with the government accused of intimidating opposition parties. This included the arrest and detention of Besigye.

Results

President

By district

Parliament

Aftermath

Opposition supporters in

staged some protests but were dispersed by

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police who act in the role of riot police in particular situations or they may be separate units organize ...

with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

. On 6 April 2006 the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

rejected Besigye's request to dismiss the poll by a vote of four to three, though a majority agreed that there had been electoral irregularities.Uganda court rejects poll protest
BBC News, 6 April 2006

References

External links

Electoral CommissionUganda Elections 2006
Uganda Pulse
Ugandaelections.comUganda police shoot rioter dead
BBC News, 15 November 2005
Profiles of 2006 candidates
''

Daily Monitor The ''Daily Monitor'' is a Ugandan independent daily newspaper. Its name is shared by the ''Saturday Monitor'' and ''Sunday Monitor'', which are also published by Monitor Publications Limited. ''Daily Monitor'' averaged a daily circulation of 24,2 ...

,'' 16 December 2005
Museveni nominated
''

New Vision The ''New Vision'' is a Ugandan English-language newspaper published daily in print form and online. Overview ''New Vision'' is one of two main national English-language newspapers in Uganda, the other being the ''Daily Monitor''. It is publi ...

,'' 16 December 2005
Uganda Sets Date for 2006 Election

VOA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

, 17 December 2005 {{Ugandan elections

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Elections in Uganda Presidential elections in Uganda February 2006 events in Africa