Politics

Son of Ugandan president withdraws from 2026 election

Published

2 hours ago

September 22, 2024

The son of Uganda’s long-serving president, Yoweri Museveni, announced on Saturday that he had given up on his ambition to seek the presidency in the upcoming 2026 election, and urged his followers to back his father instead of him.

Despite not officially announcing his candidature, President Museveni, who has served as the nation’s leader for 38 years, is generally anticipated to seek reelection.

“I would like to announce that I will not be on the ballot paper in 2026,” said Muhoozi Kainerugaba in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

“I fully endorse President Yoweri Museveni in the next elections,” he said, urging his supporters to back his father for a seventh term.

Although he is currently in charge of the nation’s armed forces, Kainerugaba is also well-known for his divisive remarks and is anticipated to succeed his father as head of state in the future. In 2022, Museveni expressed regret to Kenya following his son’s threat to invade the neighbouring country via Twitter.

The opposition has long charged Museveni with trying to install a monarchy on the country; the president disputes this.

The 80-year-old Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, and to prolong his reign, he twice amended the constitution.

Human rights advocates and those who oppose him politically, such as pop singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, have long charged Museveni with abusing security forces to imprison, threaten, or torture opponents. Museveni refutes these allegations.

In the most recent presidential election (2021), wine finished second. He protested the results, claiming that his supporters had been kidnapped, intimidated, and ballots stuffed. It was Uganda’s fairest vote ever, according to Museveni.

A tendency towards the “sit-tight” phenomenon in African political leadership has been pronounced with Yoweri Museveni having spent 38 years in power. Togo, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Djibouti, Zimbabwe, and Cameroon. Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire also have a recent history of long-serving presidents while in Eritrea has been no presidential election since independence in 1993.

Politics

Legislators in Tunisia want removal of court’s electoral supervision power

Published

1 day ago

September 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

An urgent bill to remove the administrative court’s jurisdiction to decide electoral issues was put out by thirty-four parliamentarians in Tunisia. But the opposition claims this would undermine the legitimacy of the presidential election scheduled for October 6.

Following the dissolution of the Supreme Judicial Council and the dismissal of numerous judges in 2022, President Kais Saied assumed control of the judiciary, and the administrative court is often regarded as the final independent court.

Political unrest has increased in the nation of North Africa ahead of the election after three well-known candidates—Mondher Znaidi Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi—were disqualified by an electoral panel appointed by Saied.

The commission permitted only two candidates to run against Saied, defying the administrative court, which is the highest court in election-related disputes.

Ayachi Zammel, one of them, was found guilty on Wednesday of forging signatures on election documents in what he claims is a politically driven prosecution, and as a result, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

In a statement released this month, law scholars warned that should any candidate file an administrative court appeal of the election results, the electoral commission’s reluctance to allow candidates to run again might make the elections invalid.

2019 saw the election of Saied in Tunisia, the only nation to successfully emerge from the 2011 “Arab Spring” demonstrations that overthrew dictators throughout the Middle East and North Africa and installed democratic leadership.

However, in 2021, he strengthened his hold on power and started governing by decree—a move that the opposition has referred to as a coup.

Saied’s detractors claim he intimidated rival candidates and stifled competition by utilising the judiciary and electoral commission to ensure his victory.

Saied has refuted the charges, claiming he will not be a tyrant and that he is fighting corrupt people, mercenaries, and traitors.

According to the bill, ordinary courts would have exclusive authority over electoral issues instead of the administrative court. Critics and civil society organisations claim that Saied is abusing the judiciary’s independence to target political rivals.

Politics

Again, warring parties in Sudan open to peaceful solutions

Published

3 days ago

September 19, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In response to US President Joe Biden’s demand for the warring sides to resume talks, Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) declared they are amenable to peaceful resolutions to the conflict, which has been raging for more than 17 months.

Army Chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who made this announcement on Wednesday, said the Sudanese government was still open to any positive initiatives aimed at ending the conflict. RSF Leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, then expressed a similar opinion early on Thursday.

“We reaffirm our commitment to ceasefire negotiations. We believe that the path to peace lies in dialogue, not random violence, and we will continue to engage in peace processes to secure a future free from fear and suffering for all Sudanese civilians,” Dagalo said on X.

Nonetheless, both men accused one another of abuses and shared guilt for the inability to put a stop to a conflict that has claimed the lives of over 12,000 people since it began in April 2023. They haven’t provided a detailed plan for arriving at a peaceful resolution.

Competition between the army and the RSF, which had previously shared power following a coup, erupted into open battle and marked the start of the conflict.

The United States-led mediators reported last month that although they had obtained commitments from both sides during discussions in Switzerland to enhance access for humanitarian aid, the progress had been impeded by the Sudanese army’s absence from the talks.

“We stand ready to work with all international partners in pursuit of a peaceful resolution that alleviates the suffering of our people and sets Sudan on a path towards security, stability, the rule of law, and the democratic transfer of power,” Burhan, the army chief, said in a statement.

Each side has accused the other of abusing power, although both have refuted earlier claims made by rights organisations and the US. Neither responded to the accusations or provided a statement in response to requests for comment.

Earlier in the month, a United Nations-mandated panel stated that both sides in Sudan’s civil war had engaged in acts that may qualify as war crimes, and proposed that to protect civilians, international powers must expand the arms embargo and send in peacekeepers.