UGANDA'S FLAWED ELECTIONS: Free, fair or flawed? Observers give their final verdict on polls

138. As this Proclamation constituted a negation of the open basis on which the elections were to have been conducted, and as it rendered anyone providing results to us liable to inordinate penalties, we were forced to consider our own position.

139. We were not able to see the Chairman of the Military Commission until early the following morning. We found that in advance of our representations, he had already prepared a press statement which he had agreed with the leaders of the UPC and the DP and. which had the effect of preserving the Proclamation in force whilst authorising returning officers and the Electoral Commission to publicly announce results.

140. The Chairman explained to us that these extraordinary powers had been rendered necessary by the abysmal performance of some returning officers in distributing
materials and in opening polling stations on 10 December. He explained that he was anxious to avoid a repetition of such incompetence at the crucial stage of the conclusion of the count. We would, however, note that by" the Proclamation the Chairman was to be provided with confidential reports by these self-same returning officers which presumably were to form the basis for the exercise of his unfettered and considerable discretion. The Proclamation, and the absence of any publicly stated reasons for it, inevitably heightened tension and created a climate of suspicion and apprehension.

141. Although the press statement was made available to us, and we immediately disclosed its contents to the press, it was several hours before we could persuade the Electoral Commission to start announcing the results it had received. In this we were assisted by Brigadier Oyite Ojok, who, although a member of the Military Commission, was unaware of the press statement but was anxious to reduce growing excitement on the streets of Kampala, as both sides were by then claiming outright victory. Indeed, the DP had first claimed victory before the polls had even closed.
142. The first results were announced over Radio Uganda shortly after 2.00 p.m. on 12 December. We were present in the communication centre at this time and while results were coming to hand.

143. Earlier in the day we had debriefed all our assistants who had returned to Kampala from various parts of the country and it had become apparent to us from the reports of their observations both during the poll and at the count that the DP was publicly claiming to have won seats which it had almost certainly lost. For instance, the claim was even made of a success in Gulu, where we knew that the UPC was taking over 90 per cent of the vote. At no stage did we lend credence to claims made by the DP that they had won a clear majority. Rather we contacted the DP to advise it of the position as we understood it to be, and subsequently the DP confirmed to us that some of its information from outlying districts had been incorrect.

144. The day in Kampala ended with a barrage of gunfire from a variety of weapons. No authoritative explanation for this was forthcoming.

Conclusion

145. This has been a turbulent and troubled election, characterised by confusion, delays, intense mistrust, and in the end, a sense of wonder that it happened at all. Some, at least, of the difficulties could have mitigated, even in Uganda's situation, if the Electoral Commission had been a more efficient and imaginative body than proved to be the case; if the Military Commission had not delayed a final decision and announcement on the venue and manner of the count till just three days before polling; if there had been a mechanism for continuing consultation between the Electoral Commission and all the political parties, sitting together, to consider and resolve difficulties as they arose; and if logistical arrangements for the distribution of balloting material had been made with a greater degree of thoroughness.

146. We have expressed at some length our reservations regarding nominations and a number of the unopposed returns: without question, this is the area most open to criticism, but it is one where the courts have the power to provide redress. We would, however, add that about half the seats involved are likely to have been captured by the UPC in any event, go that despite their effect on the arithmetic, they are unlikely to have affected the outcome.

147. In the remainder of the country, despite all deficiencies the electoral process cohered and held together even if some of its individual strands were frayed. Surmounting all obstacles, the people of Uganda, like some great tidal wave, carried the, electoral process to a worthy and valid conclusion.