Lessons for Uganda from British elections
May 18, 2010
THE May 6 British general elections which ended in the country’s first coalition government since 1945 between the Conservatives and Liberal democrats, gives Uganda great lessons.
By Enock Kiyaga
THE May 6 British general elections which ended in the country’s first coalition government since 1945 between the Conservatives and Liberal democrats, gives Uganda great lessons.
Fourty-three-year-old David Cameron became the youngest premier since Lord Liverpool in 1812. I witnessed this election as a UK electoral commission accredited observer and took keen interest in all aspects of the elections, particularly the media coverage of the run up to the elections, among others.
The British media was largely balanced, giving fair coverage to all parties for the bigger part of the campaigns. However, towards the end, most of the papers openly declared their support for a particular party and eventually tilted their reporting towards the candidates of their choice.
Despite the fact that papers like The Sun, openly supported Cameron, when it came to other facts like poll results, they would still publish them even when they did not favour their candidate.
In Uganda today, there are media houses who do the same thing, by running reports that favour their perceived parties or candidates of their choice even when it does not rhyme with public opinion, but would rather not make it official.
Which of the two is better for a young democracy like Uganda? The introduction of prime ministerial television debates for the first time in British history propelled hardly known leader of the Liberal democrats Nick Clegg. The Liberal democrats were the third party in a usually two-party race — Labour and Conservatives and they greatly changed the dynamics of the British electoral politics.
Polls after the first debate, showed that Clegg had won convincingly, and hinted at the possibility of an astounding reversal of electoral fortunes, as the number of citizens intending to vote for the Lib Dems surged to the extent that they surpassed the ruling Labour Party in support. The success of the Lib Dem leader led to claims of “Cleggmania†and a prediction of a historic increase in the number of seats for the party.
These predictions, however, did not come to pass. Though Clegg did well in all three debates, his party actually lost five seats. This scenario speaks volumes about the perceived power of the media which effectively created a pseudo political star in Nick Clegg — but could not be translated into votes.
Does the media coverage in Uganda reflect the real strength of the parties and candidates in terms of electoral fortunes? Don’t we have these pseudo politicians that are increasingly created and resuscitated by the media in face of competition?
Despite the fact that Gordon Brown was the reigning prime minister, the media did not treat him as anything more than a candidate seeking fresh mandate.
Brown was humane and down to earth, begging for votes like other candidates throughout the campaigns. In fact, the climax of his humility and equal status was when, in the last week to the elections, Brown who chose a choreographed, but mediated one-to-one campaign, was caught off guard by the media calling one of his voters a bigoted woman.
He unknowingly forgot to put off the wireless microphone and his rather private callous opinion about his engagement with the labour voter who was complaining about the excessive influx of immigrants, ended up in the public realm. What would telecasting this type of information in Uganda result into?
Upon learning his blunder, Brown did not blame the messenger but went straight to the widow whom he had offended and pleaded for her mercy behind closed doors for 40 minutes.
He also went ahead to apologise to all the labour leaders, supporters and the country at large. Regarding voter turn up, the polling stations were busy but did not have long queues.
The electoral officials were positive about my presence and availed me all the information I asked for. This proved to me that they acted in the transparent manner and had nothing to hide. There was no single policeman at any of the polling stations I visited in Greater Manchester.
Voting commenced at 7:00am up to 10:00pm, but in Uganda where the voter turn up is higher, voting closes at 5:00pm which denies some voters the right to vote. The Electoral Commission should consider extending the voting time to at least 7:00pm, even if it means buying solar lamps.
Didn’t Winston Churchill say democracy is the worst form of governance except for all those that have been tried?
The writer is a PhD student in media studies at the University of Huddersfield and was a UK Electoral Commission accredited election observer
THE May 6 British general elections which ended in the country’s first coalition government since 1945 between the Conservatives and Liberal democrats, gives Uganda great lessons.
Fourty-three-year-old David Cameron became the youngest premier since Lord Liverpool in 1812. I witnessed this election as a UK electoral commission accredited observer and took keen interest in all aspects of the elections, particularly the media coverage of the run up to the elections, among others.
The British media was largely balanced, giving fair coverage to all parties for the bigger part of the campaigns. However, towards the end, most of the papers openly declared their support for a particular party and eventually tilted their reporting towards the candidates of their choice.
Despite the fact that papers like The Sun, openly supported Cameron, when it came to other facts like poll results, they would still publish them even when they did not favour their candidate.
In Uganda today, there are media houses who do the same thing, by running reports that favour their perceived parties or candidates of their choice even when it does not rhyme with public opinion, but would rather not make it official.
Which of the two is better for a young democracy like Uganda? The introduction of prime ministerial television debates for the first time in British history propelled hardly known leader of the Liberal democrats Nick Clegg. The Liberal democrats were the third party in a usually two-party race — Labour and Conservatives and they greatly changed the dynamics of the British electoral politics.
Polls after the first debate, showed that Clegg had won convincingly, and hinted at the possibility of an astounding reversal of electoral fortunes, as the number of citizens intending to vote for the Lib Dems surged to the extent that they surpassed the ruling Labour Party in support. The success of the Lib Dem leader led to claims of “Cleggmania†and a prediction of a historic increase in the number of seats for the party.
These predictions, however, did not come to pass. Though Clegg did well in all three debates, his party actually lost five seats. This scenario speaks volumes about the perceived power of the media which effectively created a pseudo political star in Nick Clegg — but could not be translated into votes.
Does the media coverage in Uganda reflect the real strength of the parties and candidates in terms of electoral fortunes? Don’t we have these pseudo politicians that are increasingly created and resuscitated by the media in face of competition?
Despite the fact that Gordon Brown was the reigning prime minister, the media did not treat him as anything more than a candidate seeking fresh mandate.
Brown was humane and down to earth, begging for votes like other candidates throughout the campaigns. In fact, the climax of his humility and equal status was when, in the last week to the elections, Brown who chose a choreographed, but mediated one-to-one campaign, was caught off guard by the media calling one of his voters a bigoted woman.
He unknowingly forgot to put off the wireless microphone and his rather private callous opinion about his engagement with the labour voter who was complaining about the excessive influx of immigrants, ended up in the public realm. What would telecasting this type of information in Uganda result into?
Upon learning his blunder, Brown did not blame the messenger but went straight to the widow whom he had offended and pleaded for her mercy behind closed doors for 40 minutes.
He also went ahead to apologise to all the labour leaders, supporters and the country at large. Regarding voter turn up, the polling stations were busy but did not have long queues.
The electoral officials were positive about my presence and availed me all the information I asked for. This proved to me that they acted in the transparent manner and had nothing to hide. There was no single policeman at any of the polling stations I visited in Greater Manchester.
Voting commenced at 7:00am up to 10:00pm, but in Uganda where the voter turn up is higher, voting closes at 5:00pm which denies some voters the right to vote. The Electoral Commission should consider extending the voting time to at least 7:00pm, even if it means buying solar lamps.
Didn’t Winston Churchill say democracy is the worst form of governance except for all those that have been tried?
The writer is a PhD student in media studies at the University of Huddersfield and was a UK Electoral Commission accredited election observer