WASHINGTON POST: Yoweri Museveni’s re-election a mockery of democracy
The Ugandan president would not allow US and EU election observers to work and blocked internet access ahead of the election
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was once regarded as one of the most promising leaders in Africa, in dramatic contrast with Idi Amin, the notorious dictator against whom he had led an insurgency. After coming to power in 1986 Museveni liberalised the economy, triggering rapid growth and a major reduction in poverty. He allowed Uganda’s first multicandidate presidential election and cultivated a close alliance with the US.
But as Museveni has aged his regime has grown steadily more corrupt and autocratic. The election he staged on Thursday to award himself a sixth consecutive term in office was a mockery of democracy. It showed that he has become, as Nigerian novelist and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka put it, “the very thing he fought against”...
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