Uganda celebrates Friday the tightest presidential election in its history whose side effects no one dares to predict. The outgoing president, Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986 thanks to a coup, promising five more years of "peace and economic development" to turn Uganda into a middle income country.
His main opponent, Kizza Besigye, said that over five years with the military will become a political disaster for the "pearl of Africa" and urged Ugandans to rise style 'Egyptian' in case of "likely" voter fraud. Background, lies the specter of instability in a country that has never experienced a peaceful transition of power.
Eight candidates will vie for the votes of 10 million registered voters, although the battle is concentrated between the outgoing president and the main opposition Besigye, a former ally and Museveni's former doctor, who broke ties in 1999 after accusing him of corruption , nepotism and betrayal of socialist ideals that brought him to power.
Until then, Besigye had occupied senior government of Museveni, who now calls 'the dictator', and promises that will not allow a new usurpation of power, as happened in the last elections in 2001 and 2006. Then the president made with 70% and 59% of the votes, respectively, although the Ugandan Supreme Court confirmed the existence of a marginal fraud had not changed the winner.
Museveni says that now reach 80% of the vote. Not get any 51% of the votes in the first half, the two leading candidates must fight a second round, a scenario that Museveni aware that the opposition has eaten ground and that is closer than ever to tread on heel-to be avoided at all costs.
Museveni win, the former rebel will be perpetuated in power another five years, following three decades in office, a period that has brought peace and economic development in a country that is behind the killing of the guerrilla's Resistance Army Lord and two bloody dictatorships in recent history.
Uganda now faces the future with hope, thanks to oil drilling planned next year following the recent discovery of oilfields in the north. Meanwhile Besigye, leader of a four-party coalition called cooperation between Parties, has garnered significant support in rural Uganda, Museveni's traditional stronghold, over the last decade.
Will, however, the third time that Besigye is facing the president and leader of the National Resistance Movement, the hegemonic party in Uganda. The opposition argues that previous calls lost due to rigging orchestrated by the regime. To avoid the same scenario, this time available to carry out their own vote count and the results do not coincide with official promises that will bring his people into the street.
A situation that could trigger similar clashes or prints to those experienced last December in Ivory Coast, where the top two candidates declared themselves winners. If the opposition believes that fraud has been consummated, Besigye has referred to events in Tunisia and Egypt to call for disobedience to Ugandans, a strategy that analysts judged will be up in the absence of widespread use virtual social networks in Uganda who helped organize the riots in northern Africa.
Like many other African leaders, Museveni, in power since 1986, has a love-hate relationship with the West, which welcomes the peace and stability in Uganda and its commitment to the conflict in Somalia, but rejects his regime with autocratic tendencies, rampant corruption and attacks on freedom of expression with the increasing harassment of journalists and sexual minorities. 
His main opponent, Kizza Besigye, said that over five years with the military will become a political disaster for the "pearl of Africa" and urged Ugandans to rise style 'Egyptian' in case of "likely" voter fraud. Background, lies the specter of instability in a country that has never experienced a peaceful transition of power.
Eight candidates will vie for the votes of 10 million registered voters, although the battle is concentrated between the outgoing president and the main opposition Besigye, a former ally and Museveni's former doctor, who broke ties in 1999 after accusing him of corruption , nepotism and betrayal of socialist ideals that brought him to power.
Until then, Besigye had occupied senior government of Museveni, who now calls 'the dictator', and promises that will not allow a new usurpation of power, as happened in the last elections in 2001 and 2006. Then the president made with 70% and 59% of the votes, respectively, although the Ugandan Supreme Court confirmed the existence of a marginal fraud had not changed the winner.
Museveni says that now reach 80% of the vote. Not get any 51% of the votes in the first half, the two leading candidates must fight a second round, a scenario that Museveni aware that the opposition has eaten ground and that is closer than ever to tread on heel-to be avoided at all costs.
Museveni win, the former rebel will be perpetuated in power another five years, following three decades in office, a period that has brought peace and economic development in a country that is behind the killing of the guerrilla's Resistance Army Lord and two bloody dictatorships in recent history.
Uganda now faces the future with hope, thanks to oil drilling planned next year following the recent discovery of oilfields in the north. Meanwhile Besigye, leader of a four-party coalition called cooperation between Parties, has garnered significant support in rural Uganda, Museveni's traditional stronghold, over the last decade.
Will, however, the third time that Besigye is facing the president and leader of the National Resistance Movement, the hegemonic party in Uganda. The opposition argues that previous calls lost due to rigging orchestrated by the regime. To avoid the same scenario, this time available to carry out their own vote count and the results do not coincide with official promises that will bring his people into the street.
A situation that could trigger similar clashes or prints to those experienced last December in Ivory Coast, where the top two candidates declared themselves winners. If the opposition believes that fraud has been consummated, Besigye has referred to events in Tunisia and Egypt to call for disobedience to Ugandans, a strategy that analysts judged will be up in the absence of widespread use virtual social networks in Uganda who helped organize the riots in northern Africa.
Like many other African leaders, Museveni, in power since 1986, has a love-hate relationship with the West, which welcomes the peace and stability in Uganda and its commitment to the conflict in Somalia, but rejects his regime with autocratic tendencies, rampant corruption and attacks on freedom of expression with the increasing harassment of journalists and sexual minorities.
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