The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has said that despite the prevailing conditions regarding 2021 general, it is preparing for the general elections whenever they take place.
While addressing the journalists at the party headquarters, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the party’s spokesperson, reminded all members that issuance of nomination forms for the internal party elections ends today July 7th 2020.
“If you picked expression of interest forms and returned them, you must fill and return nomination forms. The relevant organs will this month (July) vet all aspiring candidates. Senior party leaders will be dispatched to districts to try to build consensus where we have more than one candidate. This will be followed by primary elections,”he said.
He noted that as of Friday last week, 100 aspiring parliamentary candidates had returned nomination forms at the headquarters. Several other hundreds have also returned them to districts. He instructed district leaderships to forward the nomination forms to the headquarters for processing.
“We hope by the time of our primary, the decision on which sort of elections, the country will have, will have been reached,” Ssemujju said.
He noted that the FDC recognizes that Uganda like any other country is faced with the Covid 19 pandemic.
“We therefore think as FDC that holding a normal election on the dates stipulated in the Constitution (January-February 2020) as announced by the Electoral Commission is a big risk. But if as a country we choose to do so, these elections must be transparent as commanded by the Constitution,”he said.
He noted that the Constitution only provides for normal elections where candidates freely interact with the electorate.
“Any attempt to modify these elections will be unlawful. We have made this point clear to the Electoral Commission. Extension of the term of the President and Parliament as is being suggested in some quarters cannot happen because it is not supported by the Constitution,”he said.
He said FDC is in the final phases of producing a position paper that calls for a transitional arrangement when the term of office for the president, Parliament and local governments comes to an end.
“We will circulate this document to all political players, civil society and to religious leaders to facilitate a national dialogue and consensus.We think the country should allow the term of office for the current administration to expire,”he concluded.