afrol News, 22 February - Tomorrow, Ugandans will vote for their President and Members of Parliament in the first multi-party vote in two decades. According to election observers, human rights groups and the national opposition, the campaign until now has been far from free and fair. Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni thus is set to win tomorrow's election, most hold.

Opposition candidate Kizza Besigye has not been given the best possibilities to run his campaign. Shortly after he came back from his South African exile, he was thrown into prison for "high treason, terrorism and rape", but Ugandan courts dismissed the charges. Since being released, his party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), has been met with obstruction and violence. On election day, no one would be surprised by massive vote rigging in favour of President Museveni.

Human rights groups are expressing fear of further violence and irregularities on election day. A large number of violations of Uganda's election laws has already been documented by these groups. The Ugandan Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) has documented irregular campaigning and the buying of voters' cards, especially in rural districts.

Equally, access to the media has been very unfair. President Museveni has had an almost exclusive access to state media, whereas Mr Besigye has not even been given a chance to defend himself against the treason, terrorism and rape charges put forward by the regime. FHRI today condemned the ban issued on talk shows and media debates about the case of Dr Besigye." This ban implicitly prevented any debate on the conduct of the elections and constituted a blatant violation of freedom of expression," the group says.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch today expressed its concern regarding the growing violence during the campaign, especially against the followers of Mr Besigye. "Tension among voters is high and pre-election violence has been on the increase. The political parties have a duty to prevent further violence," said Jemera Rone of the human rights groups. Many violent clashes between security personnel and supporters of the opposition have been registered. At least two have been killed.

Campaigning officially ended yesterday, thus opening for at least one quiet day before tomorrow's poll. Mr Besigye indeed was forced to end his campaigning one day before after security forces had fired tear gas and water cannon at his supporters in the capital, Kampala. The opposition leader was urged to evacuate the national stadium, where he had planned to hold his last rally.

According to official opinion polls, President Museveni has a much greater support in the electorate than Mr Besigye. The opposition has however cast doubt on these polls. Tomorrow's election, which will be monitored by many foreign observers, is expected to lack sufficient transparency to establish who gained most votes.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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