I will not contest without reforms, Besigye.

By Wesley Spartan 

Dr Kizza Besigye, the former Forum for Democratic Forum (FDC) party president says he will not contest in the 2016 general polls short of electoral reforms.

Besigye was nominated in absentia last week by his supporters to contest for election of FDC party flag bearer. Addressing the media this afternoon, Besigye down played claims by sections of the media that he had made a U-turn against his earlier pronouncement to boycott the polls until government introduces electoral reforms.

Electoral reforms U-turn

Now our parties are preparing for elections. What is the contraction of a Besigye becoming a candidate in the flag-bearer election. Where is the U-turn to say we are preparing for a free and fair elections, and that, we are going to fight for reforms? 

And especially when some of our political leaders, have not shown the desired, the required resoluteness of demanding those reforms."

Adding: "Because they have been voices amongst us who are saying 'for us we shall go for elections whether there are reforms whether there are not, for us we are preparing to go.’ How do you prepare to go when we have a compact?! 

You must prepare first to fight for reforms. So my candidature is not any form of U-turn but simply an implementation of what we have been saying." 

According to Besigye, all politi

cal parties under their umbrella organization IPOD, the Electoral Commission, Civil Society Organizations and election observers are yearning for electoral reforms. 

He says all opposition parties and including some the ruling party members are signatories to the citizen's compact on free and fair elections, which bars them to contest in the 2016 elections without electoral reforms.

"This [the compact] is a solemn declaration. It is not a joke! Everybody who signed this, made a solemn declaration that we shall have a new, independent, impartial Electoral Commission. A new one! Not this Museveni-Commission. 

There are 17 reforms - that all of us declared must have! 17 reforms under the compact. The last article of this compact, which is article 18 talks about the implementation of the compact - how this will come into force. In other words, that is the basis of our slogan ‘ elections after reforms’, he said.

Term limits

"It has been said that how can I oppose term limits but I keep on standing? And this is again said by people who have been to school, who can’t ask themselves what term means. How can contesting be a term. How has our education gone that wrong to have people to think that by contesting - that is a term!

If you agree that there has not been a free and a fair election, how can you talk about defeat in an election that is not free or fair? Who has not heard dictators declare themselves to have won elections by 100%, 99% only to be deposed by their citizens the next day."

Besigye bowed out as FDC party president two years to the expiry of his term contested for the presidency of the country three times without success albeit controversially.