Afriques en Lutte

The election was characterised by :

a) An obscene and open use of money to corrupt the whole process. The unprecedented bribery no doubt subverted the will of people. To clarify the extent, 76 out of 80 districts we have sampled reported this kind of bribery.

b) Multiple voting and ballot stuffing resulting from use of bloated voters register. In the 80 districts we sampled more than half reported this malpractice.

c) Voters turned away without voting. This was reported in 61 out of 80 districts.

d)Biased presiding officers and polling assistants as a result of appointment of movement cadres into the electoral commission system.

e) 66 districts out of 80 reported that a large number of their polling agents were denied declaration of results forms.

f) Wide spread deployment of armoured vehicles and troops in the whole country who were even patrolling polling areas and causing fear in the population.

g) Arrests, detention and removal of our polling agents from polling station. This was reported in 34 of the 80 districts sampled so far.

h) Pre-ticked ballots in favour of Museveni were caught outside polling stations in 28 out of 80 districts sampled.

i) In 19 out of 80 districts we received reports of ghost polling stations.

j)In 44 districts out of 80 materials arrived late and reduced the level of participation of voters.

An election conducted under such environment cannot reflect the will of the people. Clearly the institutions of the state charged with the management of the election have failed the country. We therefore :

1.Categorically reject the out come of the elections.

2.Reject the leadership of Mr. Yoweri Museveni and any person or persons he may purport to appoint.

3.Have resolved to consult other political actors, religious leaders, civil society and the public to determine how to bring an end to the illegitimate government that may be installed there by bringing the country back to the path of constitutional rule. We will keep the country informed of the next steps.

4.We congratulate all the voters who turned out in large numbers in many areas despite the visible presence of instruments of intimidation. We thank all our mobilizers and campaigners who made the campaigns of the IPC flag bearers highly visible, exciting and focused on the issues that matter most to the people of Uganda.

5.We specially thank the young men and women who worked as our polling agents in particularly hard circumstances. The young men and women who were sent to districts to retrieve results some of whom were arrested. To you our foot soldiers, you are the future of our country. We are proud of you.