41% Support Third Term

Jun 25, 2003

AN opinion poll commissioned by an American group found that 41% of Ugandans support President Yoweri Museveni to contest for a third term. But 37% were against.

By John Kakande
AN opinion poll commissioned by an American group found that 41% of Ugandans support President Yoweri Museveni to contest for a third term. But 37% were against.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) poll was conducted by the Nairobi-based Strategic Public Relations and Research Ltd.. The results were released at a press conference at the Sheraton Hotel Kampala yesterday.

“About 41.6% of respondents want the Constitution amended to allow the President to run for a third term compared to 37.9% who disagree,” the poll report said. Support for a third term was 70.5% in the rural areas and 29.5% in urban areas.

The support for a third term was 31.5% among respondents aged 26 to 35 years and declined to 3.5% among those aged above 55 years.

Ms Frances Naiga Muwonge, the IRI’s programme officer for East Africa, and Mr. Peter Oriare from the Strategic PR and Research Ltd., said the findings genuinely represented the views of the people interviewed between May 21 and June 13, 2003 when the poll was conducted.

The poll was intended to gauge public opinion in Uganda on issues, which included governance, democracy, multiparty politics and constitutional reform.

Muwonge said the findings would guide IRI in its future democracy building programmes in Uganda.

Three thousand people from 12 districts from all the four traditional regions were sampled. Sixty percent were from the rural areas and 40% from urban areas. The women were 48% and men 52%.

On political parties, the poll found that “there are conflicting perceptions about the role of political parties in Uganda.”

“Sixty percent believe that they are the source of political strife, yet the same number perceives political parties as essential to meaningful political choice,” the report said.

Although 50% of the respondents said political parties should be allowed to operate freely, 69% fear that allowing party activities would generate conflict. About 38.7% want a referendum on lifting party restrictions while 27.4% said Parliament should take the decision.

“About 19.9% of respondents want the restrictions on political parties lifted immediately while 15% want restrictions lifted a year preceding 2006 general elections, 6% within six months and 4.5% want it within one year,” the report said.

The poll said 66.5% want the Movement to become a party, against 25.5%. Respondents who wanted new parties created were 62.7% and 55.3% wanted the number limited.

Although 68% of the respondents said the Movement system was a democracy, 49% said they were not free to express political views. Another 56% said the press was not free, 56% felt there was no freedom to assemble and 50% felt there was no freedom to practice religion.

Some 80.3% said they support the National Resistance Movement, 10.4% support DP and 7.4%, UPC. Support for the NRM was 59.8% in the rural areas and 40.2% in the urban. There was negligible support for the CP, the Justice Forum of former presidential candidate Kibirige Mayanja and National Democratic Forum of Chapaa Karuhanga.

The poll showed that people who chose a party on basis of religion were highest in western region - 48.1%. But in the central, they were 23.3%, eastern 14.7% and northern 13.9%. Overall, 37.9% of the respondents said they selected a party on the basis of religion.

The religious leaders enjoyed the highest public trust - 53.3%. The level of public trust for the President was 48.4%, Parliament 43.5%, opposition parties, 34.3%, the Police, 35.9%, army, 40.7%, the Electoral Commission 34.1%, and the courts 36.3%.

Respondents who said they do not trust the Electoral Commission were 40.3%, the opposition 39.7%, the Police 34.9%, and the President, 32.8%.

Muwonge said although IRI’s top leaders have conservative leanings, the group was independent and not linked to President George Bush’s Republic Party. She said the timing of the release of the findings had nothing to do with Bush’s forthcoming visit to Uganda.

An overwhelming majority of 86.1% were registered voters. Of the respondents who said they were too busy to register, 46% were from the central region.

The poll found that 60.5% of the respondents voted in the 2,000 referendum as opposed to 15.1% who did not. Out of the respondents who did not vote in the referendum, 21.2% perceived it as “unfair”. But others did not vote for fear of violence (12.4%) or had names missing (23.7%) while 17.5% were unable to get to a polling station.

It said 59% who voted in the referendum were supporters of the Movement.
But 33.8% wanted political system change.

Also 86.3% said they voted in the 2001 presidential elections as opposed to 7.3% who did not.

Some 65.1% voted for Museveni and 22.7% for Dr Kizza Besigye and Aggrey Awori, 6.1%. The poll showed Besigye got more support from Buganda (39.3%) and from males (56.6%).

A majority (73.2%) said Ugandans are better off today than they were 20 years ago. But 24.1% felt Ugandans are worse off. And 75.8% said Ugandans are more secure than they were 20 years ago. But only a handful from the north said Ugandans are today more secure.

“About 28.3% said the media in Uganda are completely free as opposed to 22.3% who think they are not free,” the report of the poll results said.
Ends

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});