Election Time

It's election time in Uganda. For the first time in 26 years multi-party elections are being held and they're being hotly contested. President Yoweri Museveni is running for a third 5-year term (he's been in power now 20 years but his rise wasn't exactly democratic) courtesy of Parliament eradicating term limits from the Constitution. His main opposition is Kizza Besigye, who went into self exile after losing the last election but returned to run again. Interesting things have happened on all sides.

It's especially interesting for me coming out of a political communication background to see how different the campaigns are run here than back in the States. American political mudslinging, for example, is tame compared to here. If you aren't saying something bad about another candidate, then you're probably taking a break to make up something bad to say about the other candidate, or maybe making up a lie that the other candidate said about you so you can portray him/her as dishonest. Much of campaigning is having supporters drive through town in a van covered in your political posters, handing out shirts and hats and posters and such while honking their horn and blowing whistles and everyone who supports running up and taking stuff and honking their horns and blowing whistles. Sometimes they'll load a big truck with speakers and crank them too loud and play music. I'm not sure what all goes on at rallies but I do know that Museveni bussed in half the country for the one in Mbarara so it'd look like he has more support. And then there's the posters. They're everywhere (the following samples having all been taken during a 5-minute walk in town)...

...on cars and store fronts...



...on petrol station signs...



...on walls...



...on "billboards"...



...and even on the cow statue in the famous cow roundabout...



...right smack dab on his face.