Opposition stalwart Kizza Besigye has said that the February 18 general election was the worst in Uganda’s history. But how was the election rigged? Collating anecdotal evidence, SADAB KITATTA KAAYA attempts to explain how the alleged rigging happened. When the presidential and parliamentary elections ended on February 18, a fierce public debate over alleged vote rigging began and hasn’t relented since. The opposition set the tone and the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) offered the much-needed supporting arguments in its preliminary assessment of the entire electoral process.
In the aftermath of the election, EU EOM sharply criticized what it called the Electoral Commission’s “lack of independence, transparency and the trust of stakeholders.”
The EU EOM statement also listed several incidents of widespread electoral malpractices which, according to the mission, compromised the credibility of the February 18 elections.
“In one out of five polling stations observed, ballot boxes were unsealed or not properly sealed, in 12 percent of polling stations EU EOM observers witnessed proxy voting and in 11 percent of observed polling stations, the layout compromised secrecy… The EU EOM observers reported isolated cases of electoral malpractices, including vote buying, ballot stuffing and influencing of polling staff and voters by party agents.”
Full Article: Uganda: How Elections Were ‘Rigged’ – allAfrica.com.