General elections were held in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It 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 ...

on 23 February 2006. They were the first

multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...

elections since President

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

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 (; 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 war through its rebel wing National ...

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

Forum for Democratic Change The Forum for Democratic Change (; FDC), founded on 16 December 2004, is one of the main opposition parties in Uganda. The FDC was founded as an umbrella body called Reform Agenda, mostly for disenchanted former members and followers of Preside ...

Kizza Besigye Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe (; born 22 April 1956), commonly known by his nickname Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye, is a Ugandan physician, politician, and former military officer. He served as the president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) ...

. Besigye was arrested on 14 November 2005 on allegations of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

, concealment of treason, and

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

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

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the War in Uganda (1986–1994), Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against Yoweri Museveni, during which Jo ...

and People's Redemption Army, 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 city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

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 leader Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja and Conservative Party's Ken Lukyamuzi 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 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 officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

. On 6 April 2006 the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. 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 an independent daily newspaper in Uganda. Launched in 1992 as ''The Monitor'', it established itself as a leading voice critical of the government and is one of the two largest national newspapers, alongside the state-ow ...

,'' 16 December 2005
Museveni nominated
''

New Vision The ''New Vision'' is a Ugandan English-language daily newspaper. It was established in its current form in 1986 by the Government of Uganda. It is the flagship newspaper of the state-owned Vision Group, a multimedia conglomerate. Along with ...

,'' 16 December 2005
Uganda Sets Date for 2006 Election
VOA, 17 December 2005 {{Ugandan elections

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Parliamentary elections in Uganda Presidential elections in Uganda February 2006 in Africa