Uganda has displayed political maturity

The Ambassador of Turkey to Uganda, H.E. Sedef Yavuzalp, on Tuesday, February 16, 2016, addressed a briefing called by ABETO at Protea Hotel Kampala to emphasise the importance of promoting peace and tolerance before, during and after the elections.  The briefing was also addressed by Dr Eng. Badru Kiggundu, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Uganda. Below is the ambassador's speech.

Mr. Chairman Electoral Commission, Mr. Chairman ABETO, distinguished members of the press, ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honour and privilege for me, as the 2015 ABETO Diplomatic Peace Awardee, to be invited also to say a few words to the distinguished participants gathered here today in the framework of the Peace Conference organised by ABETO.

As you already know, general elections are going to be held in Uganda on Thursday.

So, first of all, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all Ugandans for their democratic attitudes as well as to all the presidential and parliamentary candidates for their successful and peaceful campaigns.

Given the fact that there are eight presidential candidates along with thousands of parliamentary candidates for 418 seats, it can be said that there is a participatory political competition between the candidates, which obviously displays the political maturity level of the Ugandan nation. Even the successful presidential debate of February 13, was a vivid manifestation of this.  

In this regard, Uganda constitutes an admirable example for the other countries in its region and beyond.

Elections are the most primary mechanism of modern representative democracies, whereby national will is manifested. Hence, in most countries, elections are quasi celebrated as democracy festivals nationwide.

We are confident that as a functioning democracy and as a stable and peaceful country, Uganda will have completed this election process peacefully.

It should be borne in mind that every country in the world has its own peculiar dynamics of democratic development and its own political culture. Hence, no country can and should give lessons to other sovereign countries. And that is not my purpose, either, as I address you here today.

Uganda, with its distinctive multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith socio-political structure, has a remarkable culture of tolerance in all terrains of daily life, including in the political sphere. In our opinion, Ugandan society is more tolerant and in more harmony than many advanced democratic societies in the world.  

For instance, even in the same village or in the same nucleus family, there are people belonging to different ethnic, religious or cultural backgrounds and we observe that they live in peaceful coexistence and harmony.

Moreover, the key roles played by and wide representation of women in every facet of life in Uganda such as in political parties, parliament, media, universities, enterprises, and so forth is another concrete indication of Ugandan society's inclusiveness and respect for democracy and equality.

That is the reason why it is a usual expectation that Ugandan society's culture of tolerance and peace be reflected upon the process of general elections.     

I would like to humbly share some of our own democratic experiences in Turkey.  

Throughout its thousands of years of history, the Turks have contributed vastly to global peace and democracy both conceptually and practically. This contribution is undoubtedly a dynamic process and continues to date.

Turkey is proud of carrying the title of being the most benevolent nation in the world by hosting approximately three million refugees, the cost of which has exceeded $10b, while the amount of the aid delivered to Turkey for the refugees remained only at $455m.

This is one example of how Turkey contributes to regional and global peace through her human-oriented foreign policy.

Being one of the founding members of the Council of Europe since 1949, which has been serving as the primary co-operation forum for democracies in Europe, Turkey has participated in the efforts of Council of Europe and contributed to the development of democracy, peace and human rights across Europe.  

Moreover, in line with the principle of gender equality, Turkish women were granted the right to vote and to be elected in the early 30s, even much earlier than their European counterparts.

Based on these principles, the Turkish nation has always attached great significance to fair and democratic elections. Since the foundation of the Republic in 1923, Turkish democracy has achieved a huge progress.

I would like to exemplify this with the most recent two successive general elections held in my country last year.

Turkey went to the polls twice on June 7 and November 1, 2015, successively, in line with democratic rules to execute the national will.

Since the June 7 elections did not bring any political party to power alone and there was a hung parliament, the political parties were unable to form a government.

However, this election bore a significant meaning for it laid out the supremacy of the national will and its capability in producing solutions.

Although a government could not be formed after the first elections on June 7, Turkey implemented the Constitution word by word and displayed a huge democratic maturity in a peaceful political atmosphere, in the sense that all political actors and parties maintained dialogue channels open and worked hard to form a government.

There was an awareness of the fact that the existential goal of political parties is to defend the political arena and to perform their representational duties in the best possible way.

Nations are capable of unlocking all deadlocks. Thus, national will is the one and only exit as exemplified in this case. Reflection of national will on the ballot box in the healthiest way is a matter of dignity and honour for all political parties and actors inside and outside the parliament.

The way Turkey handled the process from June 7 until November 1, when the next elections took place and even in its aftermath in line with the requirements of democracy, law, politics and national will, was a major achievement for all of us. We had a chance to see the advanced level we had in fact achieved.

Eventually, the November 1 elections were held in Turkey in a peaceful environment with a high turnout of 85%. This was one of the highest ratios in the world. Even in many advanced democracies this is hard to achieve. And ultimately, the AK Party won the elections with over 49% of the vote and as an outcome, was able to form a single-party government.

I can say that our citizens exercised their democratic rights through the successfully-held elections and the national will was manifested at the polls.

As a result, all actors, stakeholders and institutions respected the will of the nation as it is the supreme authority in a modern democracy.

In this regard, each and every citizen should commit to their responsibilities as part of the single body constituting the nation, when the matter is the nation's independence and future. Only then, can responsibilities towards the nation be fulfilled successfully. This is true for participation in elections.


I am pretty much sure that Ugandan voters are excited and are aware of the importance of their responsibility to vote independently in line with the Constitution and other relevant Ugandan laws.

Meanwhile, I would like to open a parenthesis for the Electoral Commission. Throughout the entire process of campaigns, the EC has taken on quite significant tasks. I would like to congratulate them for their efforts.

As a final remark, I would like to emphasise that everybody should trust the Ugandan voters, because without doubt, they will take the rightest and wisest decision about the future of their country. In this way, the national will shall emerge from the ballot box.

With these feelings and thoughts, I sincerely wish that the Ugandan people will enjoy this peaceful democracy festival on February 18, because they will elect their president and legislators who will govern them during the upcoming 5 years.

I also wish the best success to all the candidates.

Thank you for your attention.

The writer is the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Uganda