Quality of polls needs constant improvement
Andrew Ojok Oulanyah (NRM) casts his vote during the Omoro County Parliamentary by-election recently. Photo | File
What you need to know:
- Uganda hasn’t had an election where the IEC gets flowers for their conduct. Maybe, it’s impossible to have a perfect election but this should not exonerate the IEC from failing in their basic mandate of conducting a regular, free and fair process.
Another election. Same old accusations and chest thumping. Last week, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) successfully conducted a by-election for the Member of Parliament (MP) for Omoro County.
The election was called to replace the departed Jacob Oulanyah L’Okori, who passed earlier this year. Oulanyah was also Speaker of the 11th Parliament.
According to official results, his son, Mr Andrew Ojok Oulanyah, polled 83 percent of the votes cast to deliver a thumping victory for the ruling NRM party.
NRM is overjoyed while the opposition have questioned the processes leading up to the poll. To start with, the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) claim that Mr Ojok was wrongly nominated.
On election day, several Opposition politicians and activists who travelled to Omoro to ‘guard’ their candidates’ votes were arrested. This is routine in all Ugandan elections.
Also, a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) truck overturned while transporting voters to a polling station. The eternal questions about the army being partisan are loud.
In addition, the Opposition claim there were pre-ticked ballots in favour of the NRM candidate. Of course, none of these allegations have been verified.
Over time, NRM functionaries have argued that the most important thing is the certainty of elections. Once every five years, Ugandans go to the polls to elect new leaders. Then, by-elections like the one held in Omoro, are also certain.
However, it’s high time we stopped looking at elections as just an event. The masses expect better from those charged with running the elections.
Uganda hasn’t had an election where the IEC gets flowers for their conduct. Maybe, it’s impossible to have a perfect election but this should not exonerate the IEC from failing in their basic mandate of conducting a regular, free and fair process.
The forces too need to know that their role must remain neutral lest they risk being dragged in the mud of politics. History suggests that durable states cannot be built with armies that take sides in civilian politics.
Cases of intimidation, voter bribery and sheer disregard of the law are often blamed on the forces. They either take part in perpetrating these crimes or turn a blind eye when they ruling party is involved.
Elections by nature are volatile but this ‘winner takes all’ mindset is counterproductive in the long run. Those who lose must at least reflect on the process that underlined the will of the electorate.
When the electorate lose faith, the consequences can be dire as the current government would know that the five-year bush war came as result of a rigged poll in 1980 plus mistrust that elections can deliver change.
