General elections were held in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

on 18 February 2011. Incumbent 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 ...

of 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) was re-elected for a third time, having been in power since 1986. The NRM also won 263 of the 375 seats in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

Background

Museveni, a former guerilla commander, had ruled Uganda for nearly 30 years at the time of the elections.

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 Democrat ...

and Museveni faced each other for the third time, having previously been allies; Besigye was defeated by Museveni in the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

and 2006 elections.

Campaign

At the time of the elections, Uganda was facing a potential oil shock, which became a campaign issue. Eight candidates contested the presidential elections, whilst a total of 1,713 candidates ran in the parliamentary elections; 1,270 for the constituency seats and 443 for the women's seats. The NRM contested every constituency seat, putting forward a total of 364 candidates. 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 ...

nominated 288, the Uganda People's Congress 135, the Democratic Party 120, the Uganda Federal Alliance 66, the People's Progressive Party 33, and the People's Development Party 18.

Conduct

European Union observers said the election was "marred by avoidable and logistical failures, which led to an unacceptable number of Ugandan citizens being disenfranchised."Uganda's Museveni Wins Vote; Opposition Rejects Result
Bloomberg, 20 February 2011

Results

President

Parliament

Aftermath

The four-party Inter-Party Cooperation chairman Kizza Besigye said before the results were announced that the opposition "categorically rejects the outcome of the elections." He later warned that Uganda was ripe for an Egypt-style revolt after Museveni's more than two decades in power. However, the protesters failed to amass in large numbers because, as ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' suggested, a failure to tally its own results through its own

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

system was disrupted by the government, who also arrested hundreds of opposition

field agent In espionage, a field agent is an agent who works in the field as opposed to one who operates at the office or headquarters. A field agent can work alone or in a group but usually has a case officer who is in charge. Field agents can be undercov ...

s. They also suggested that Besigye did not believe his own claim of sparking a revolution. After losing out twice to Museveni – whose personal physician and loyal ally he once was – this third attempt seems to have shattered him.Why Uganda's Besigye failed to deliver Egypt-style protests after election defeat
Christian Science Monitor, 22 February 2011