Museveni "eternalizes" itself in Uganda

Uganda has voted for continuity in the presidential elections held on Wednesday and probably also for the increase in violence and instability that had been rising in recent months in Kampala, the capital, and other cities. President Yoweri Museveni will see his 35-year uninterrupted mandate extended with another term, the sixth since he took power. He is the second African president to be "eternally" in office after Cameroon's Paul Biya and Equatorial Guinea's satrap, Teodoro Obiang, who has already completed 40 years of dictatorship.

Museveni won with 58.6% of the vote, while his main competitor, the popular singer Bobi Wine (on whom the opposition had pinned some hopes), secured 34.8%. 

The elections were a bumpy ride. 52% of the electorate voted, but irregularities during the campaign and in the election count cast doubt on these results. Protests by opponents are being endorsed by diplomats and observers.

Museveni is 76 and has been in power for half his life. 80% of the voters who have just re-elected him were born with him at the head of the government. The country is experiencing many problems (some still inherited from his predecessors Idi Amín and Milton Obote) which, after three long decades, the re-elected president has already proved incapable of solving. His re-election is reviving the criticism that Africa has been levelling at its leaders for ever. It is paradoxical that the youngest and most promising of these leaders have several of the most worn-out rulers.

Although democracy has gained ground in several countries and constitutions are beginning to be a key to stability, several presidents are still ignoring the maximum of two consecutive terms in office. Subterfuges are often rigged to run again in elections when the deadline arrives. In addition to skipping the Constitution, they enter the campaigns with the advantage of being at the head of the armed and security forces, the public media and the state budget.

A few months ago the president of Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, was re-elected using some of these tricks. He also won by an overwhelming majority, but both his determination to run for a third term in violation of the Constitution and the irregularities recorded throughout the process (which claimed 16 victims) have revived old conflicts and instability in his major cities.