Written question asked by Tony Lloyd (Labour) on Thursday, 10 March 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 15 March 2011. It was answered by Lord Bellingham (Conservative) on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Uganda: Elections

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the recent presidential elections in Uganda; what assessment he has made of the conduct of that election; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: 1 received regular reports on each stage of the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in Uganda, including on the conduct of the campaigns and polling day and the outcome of both elections.As I noted in my statement of 22 February 2011, the Government fully endorses the preliminary findings of the EU and Commonwealth Observation Missions to Uganda, which noted that while there have been improvements in the overall conduct and transparency of the elections, they were marred by avoidable shortcomings in their organisation. We share the Observer Mission's concern that the power of incumbency was exercised to such an extent as to compromise severely the level playing field between the competing candidates and political parties.The Government will encourage all those elected and all Uganda's political stakeholders, including Uganda's Government, political parties and the Electoral Commission to reflect on the assessments of the independent observers, build on positive developments, and address the shortcomings identified in order to strengthen pluralistic, multi-party democracy in Uganda.

Secondary information