Ugandans go to the polls on February 23 to cast ballots for the president and parliament. While the two leading presidential candidates -- incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement and opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change -- are the same as in the 2001 election, there have been two key changes in Ugandan politics that make this election historic.

The most influential change occurred in July 2005 when the Ugandan Parliament lifted a constitutional ban that limited presidential term limits. This controversial decision allowed President Museveni to run for a third term. Weeks later, Ugandans voted in a referendum election by a margin of more than 9 to 1 in favor of restoring a multi-party system of government. This marked the end of a 19-year ban on multi-party elections.

IFES is providing the Ugandan Election Commission with technical assistance as part of a 14-month program to enhance the commission’s capacity to administer the upcoming elections. After the relatively poor turnout for the 2005 referendum, the Ugandan Electoral Commission is now striving to ensure more voters make it to the polls for these landmark multi-party elections.

Part of that program involved updating the country’s voters register. By using a new exercise in which names are displayed as data is entered, more than two million names were added to the roll that now contains the names of more than 10 million voters. Commission members also launched an extensive radio campaign to educate citizens about the election and, with IFES assistance, they provided a voter education booklet that was widely circulated across the country.

Poll worker training and media outreach were also key components of the program. The Ugandan Electoral Commission trained an estimated 120,000 poll workers across Uganda to staff almost 20,000 polling stations. In addition, election authorities held weekly meetings and press conferences to update the media on the progress of the National Election Liaison Committee and the Party Representatives’ Dialogue on Issues of Concern, in an attempt to make the process transparent to the public.

Security remains a concern for election organizers. Both Ugandan and international authorities are urging calm after recent attacks, including a shooting at President Museveni’s motorcade in the Karamoja area, the tear gassing of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) supporters in Jinja and a shooting incident at a Besigye rally in Kampala that resulted in three deaths. The Inspector General of Police has expressed confidence that his police force, in addition to the additional personnel made available to him for polling day, will be sufficient, but there are still concerns that one incident could spark widespread unrest given the perceived closeness of the race.

Leaders of the two most popular political parties -- the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) -- have called for their supporters to stay at the polling stations after casting their votes “to protect our votes.” This is contrary to the commission’s guidance, which asks that people disperse quietly after voting and return for the counting process, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. In these circumstances presiding officers will suspend polling, which will serve the interest of neither party.