ROAD TO 2021: Dr. Kizza Besigye eyeing MP seat

By Francis Otucu

Presidential candidates who garner over 10% of the total vote in the presidential elections will automatically become Members of Parliament.

However, this will only happen if a proposal by the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party to create Parliamentary seats for such candidates is passed and approved.

Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) officials led by President, Patrick Amuriat Oboi, made this revelation while appearing before the Legal committee of Parliament yesterday to present their opinions on the Constitutional Amendment Bill 2019.

The bill that proposes a raft of reforms is a private members bill drafted by the Ndorwa East MP, Wilfred Niwagaba.

According to Phillip Wafula Ogutu, the former leader of opposition in the 9th parliament, the current system creates a situation where even a candidate who has garnered 49% of the vote loses out completely, which he says leaves a vast section of the population bitter and disenfranchised.

Both Amuriat and Ogutu are some of four-time presidential candidate, Kizza Besigye’s most trusted men.

Analyst believe, they could be fronting their senior’s thought.

For instance, in the 2016 polls, Besigye garnered 3, 508, 687 votes (35.61%) compared to President Yoweri Museveni’s 5, 971, 872 (60.62%).

In 2011, Besigye collected 2, 064, 963 votes (26.01) against Museveni’s 5, 428, 369 (68.38%) and in 2006, Besigye came close, 37%, an equivalence of 2, 592, 954 against Museveni’s 59% (4, 109, 449 votes).

Going by the past three results of the presidential polls, Besigye would be in Parliament as MP, if proposals by the Amuriats were considered ‘yesterday’

Besigye is expected to contest in the 2021 presidential polls.

FDC sources, however, say, having Besigye in parliament would be a huge opportunity given he would be mobilizing from the inside as opposed to the outside, which he has been doing since 2000.