EALA election rules need to be rethought
For the second consecutive term, Uganda’s second largest political party in Parliament, Forum for Democratic Change, will not be represented at the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).
This week, as it was in 2012, the ruling NRM connived with UPC and DP to lock out FDC.
NRM maintained its six of the nine slots available to Uganda, and DP and UPC took one apiece. The ninth slot went to Ms Susan Nakawuki, who was returned to Eala as an “independent” but is closely connected to NRM.
FDC announced after the exercise that it had pulled out of the donor-supported Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD), an arrangement through which the political parties engage on different issues.
In locking out FDC, NRM argues that the election to Eala of two Opposition members – from DP and UPC – is sufficient to fulfill the requirement that the team from Uganda is composed of members from “all shades of opinion”.
FDC say, that because they are the leading Opposition party, they are the official Opposition and they should, therefore, have a say on who goes to Eala from the Opposition.
But under the current arrangement, the ruling party, which has over two-thirds majority in the House and also has most “independent” MPs voting with it, has the power to frustrate FDC.
The “independents” are the second biggest bloc after the NRM, with FDC a distant third in numerical strength. DP and UPC MPs also vote with NRM on Eala matters, leaving FDC isolated.
FDC, therefore, failed to have NRM relinquish some of its six slots to accommodate all the other three parties represented in Parliament, and DP and UPC are not keen to support FDC’s push so long as NRM is ready to back them to take the two slots allocated to the opposition.
Given this background, some FDC members even argued against their party participating in the Eala election process at all. Those who insisted on participating, and even quarreled over it, did so in vain.
A question arises out of what happened over this past week, especially going by how NRM MPs booed FDC mobiliser Ingrid Turinawe as she campaigned. Why should members of the Opposition be subjected to a vote by ruling party MPs?
The fair and realistic option is to determine beforehand the number of individuals each party will send to Eala and then let the different party caucuses choose who represents them in Eala.
The issue: Eala elections.
Our view: The fair and realistic option is to determine beforehand the number of individuals each party will send to Eala and then let the different party caucuses choose who represents them in Eala.
