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Talk:2021 Ugandan general election

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 14 January 2021 and 24 April 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Pheiruse.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 16:41, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Fraud allegations - cut text

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I've removed the following unsourced text from the article:

"The mechanics of part of the fraud were reported to work as follows. In his home province Museveni had the support of roughly 90% of the voters. Museveni plied local election offices with extra money in this province and had the courts, which his allies controlled, rule that temporary "satellite election offices" were allowed. In such offices one "can request, receive, mark and cast your mail-in or absentee ballot all in one visit." As such these offices were really special polling places. Museveni then had the local boards approve "satellite election offices" in his home province where boards, flush with cash and wishing to increase voter participation, approved. His opponents did not understand that this was happening or what the results would be on a large scale, and they had no such special polling places in their strongholds. These "offices" were opened 14 days before the election in most places. By effectively allowing 15 days to vote in his home province he was able to increase turn-out an estimated 12%, although the exact amount will likely never be determined."

I'm not in Uganda and can't comment one way or the other as to whether or not this account is true. It could well be that there was significant fraud, but without a reliable source substantiating the details of the narrative presented here, it doesn't make sense to include it. Of course the text block is qualified in the beginning by the weaselly "were reported to work as followed," but it doesn't say by whom it was supposedly reported. Someone could have simply made this all up.

And to have such a long and detailed narrative here suggests that Wikipedia is asserting that this narrative is likely to be accurate. So I think we need to leave it out of the article unless someone finds a good citation for these specific allegations. -2003:CA:871E:3680:411E:6E75:ADC8:1941 (talk) 02:17, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I cut out this text for basically the same reason. "Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country since 1986, stole the election and after ordering the army to put main opposition Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu into a house arrest, The electoral commission declared Museveni winner under panic." This page must be closely monitored. Jose Corregidor (talk) 09:56, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for catching that. In that same POV edit - this one [1] - the user also removed much of what was in the intro section. I've now fully restored it. -2003:CA:871E:3680:411E:6E75:ADC8:1941 (talk) 14:51, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The 'allegations of fraud' section is now pretty threadbare, with only one sentence about any such allegations, suggesting that maybe it's not such a big issue There seem to be plenty of sources who think otherwise e.g. " The US State Department said ... it is "deeply troubled" by reports of election violence and voting irregularities. The Ugandan people turned out to vote in multiparty national elections on January 14 despite an environment of intimidation and fear," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. "We are deeply troubled by the many credible reports of security force violence during the pre-election period and election irregularities during the polls," she said..[1] The same source says "Wine said that he had video footage of electoral fraud which he would upload once his internet connection was returned." Reuters has "Wine, a 38-year-old singer-turned-lawmaker who had rallied young Ugandans behind his call for political change, called the results a “complete fraud”. “It’s an election that was taken over by the military and the police,” he said in a phone interview from inside his home in the capital, Kampala, which was surrounded by soldiers who he said had forbidden him from leaving.“It further exposes how dictatorial the Museveni regime is,” added Wine, who campaigned to end what he called widespread corruption. “It’s a mockery of democracy.”[2]. Some of this should be included in this sectionBobBadg (talk) 20:47, 24 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@BobBadg - I wouldn't be opposed to expanding the section, provided that any additions be relevant and well-sourced. I will note though that none of what you quoted above is particularly specific - it's mostly just vague allegations from the losing candidate and the US State Dept referencing vague "reports." Perhaps something more specific and substantial will eventually be brought forth. Perhaps Wine (who lost the election) will eventually upload some video that actually proves fraud. Until that happens though, all we really have are some vague and unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, and there's not really a whole lot to say about that. The text I cut out of the article was quite specific in terms of what it was alleging, but it was completely uncited, and it didn't even specify who was alleging it, so obviously that wasn't fit for inclusion. -2003:CA:872B:6702:7DAC:B281:EC84:CF7 (talk) 12:26, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, additions need to be well-sourced. Now, there's an issue that none of the major press agencies are around. Many have been expelled from the country. One of the links I have just added (about the 409 polling stations with 100% voter turnout) is from Uganda Radio Network. They have more info, and I will continue to add. About the videos that @bobbadg requests, Bobi Wine has uploaded several. Links can be found here: https://diaspora.nup-uganda.com/?p=176. Klupper (talk) 20:41, 20 February 2021 (UTC)Klupper Klupper (talk) 20:41, 20 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Following the comments above, I've added some more specific comments (from Al Jazeera) and also the news that Wine's legal team has taken their case to the Ugandan Supreme Court (on February 1st) - that seems noteworthy. BobBadg (talk) 13:45, 3 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ https://www.dw.com/en/uganda-yoweri-museveni-declared-winner-amid-election-fraud-allegations/a-56248765
  2. ^ https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-uganda-election/ugandas-museveni-declared-winner-of-presidential-poll-rival-alleges-fraud-idUSKBN29L07E

"International reactions" section

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I've removed this uncited assertion from the IR section: "However, after strong criticism from the wider public, Uhuru Kenyatta retracted his congratulatory message."

From what I've read, Facebook had flagged Kenyatta's congratulatory statement as "disputed," and the House of Representatives had removed the post, but I'm not aware that Kenyatta himself actually issued any statement retracting his own congratulations. If he did then we need a source which directly states that.

This section can be gradually filled in with statements from other regional and world leaders as they emerge.

Another interesting aspect of this election is the role which social media companies have played. In addition to Facebook flagging the Kenyan President's statement, this was also apparently the first national election held after US President Trump was banned from Twitter, and Twitter shortly thereafter issued a statement condemning Uganda for allegedly violating the open discourse on the Internet.

So this might be another section which could be developed, assuming good sources can be found. There's already a section "Social media and internet block," but that's specifically focused on the Uganda government blocking social media, not so much on the role these social media companies themselves played. -2003:CA:871E:3680:411E:6E75:ADC8:1941 (talk) 14:35, 18 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Parliament results Comment

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Does somebody know where I can find results for the parliament election? BSMIsEditing (talk) 14:43, 8 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Could be updated there one day.--Aréat (talk) 00:41, 12 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

They have not been published. In many of 409 polling stations with 100% voter turnout for the Presidential Election, the voter turnout was much lower for the parliamentary elections. This is odd, since they are only a few meters apart. Although the constitution stipulates that results should be published, it looks like the Electoral Commission does not want to further fuel the allegations of ballot box stuffing. Klupper (talk) 20:47, 20 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Surely they will end up publishing the list of seats by parties, though?--Aréat (talk) 22:06, 20 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@BSMIsEditing: @Klupper:They finally got published :] --Aréat (talk) 05:44, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Vote totalling

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In case anyone is interested in how the totals were reached and wants to check the calculations, this is the data dump from the results pdf. Cheers, Number 57 23:37, 19 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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