2016 elections not worth preparing for - Besigye

May 28, 2015

FORMER Forum for Democratic Change president Dr Kizza Besigye has said the debate over his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election is diversionary

By Umaru Kashaka

 

FORMER Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Dr Kizza Besigye has said the debate over his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election is diversionary.

 

Speaking to New Vision at the 4GC offices on Katonga Road in Kampala, Besigye said the anticipated elections are a patently flawed process.

 

"And so that is not the election that anybody would be preparing for. We are still struggling for political reforms that will give us credible elections and the whole process of trying to get candidates is diversionary. The priority should be to get the type of election in which to field candidates," he said.

 

Besigye, who is a three-time loser in the presidential competition with President Yoweri Museveni, said "the elections as we have had of the Kiggundu electoral commission, of rampant rigging and violation of all norms of elections cannot be an election that one should start preparing candidates for".

 

Besigye was last week elected unopposed as secretary for elderly and pensioners on the FDC's Rukungiri Municipality committee. This made him eligible to contest for any post at the national level.

 

The former leader of opposition in Parliament Nandala Mafabi last week fronted Besigye for 2016, saying he is the only formidable opposition leader who can defeat President Museveni in a free and fair election.

 

Mafabi claimed Besigye had ‘never lost an election’ and could give Museveni a run for his ‘state money’ if electoral reforms were instituted.

 

"All the elections Besigye has participated in have been rigged and marred by the harassment and intimidation of the opposition, so he has never lost elections because they have not been genuine. If they had been free and fair, I am sure Besigye would have won," he said.

 

The seasoned FDC MP for Budadiri West said they are working on a joint opposition candidate and when time comes they will market a candidate who would trounce Museveni in the poll.

 

"Among the current crop of opposition politicians, Besigye is the best candidate and even Muntu can't match him," Mafabi said.

 

In the 2001 elections, Besigye got 27% of the vote. In 2006, he got 37%, while in 2011 he scored 26%.

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