Kizza Besigye, leader of the Inter-Party Cooperation coalition, has called for peaceful anti-government protests, against the outcome of the 2011 elections.
Besigye who is also president of the Forum for Democratic change party also demanded a fresh vote, on grounds that the February 18th presidential and parliamentary poll was a sham due to widespread bribery, ballot box stuffing and military intimidation.
President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa's longest serving leaders, won his way into a fourth term in office by a huge margin on Sunday. Electoral commission results handed Museveni 68 percent of the vote, against challenger Kizza Besigye's 26 percent.
Addressing a news conference at Nsambya Youth sharing hall in Kampala, Besigye said that he was sounding a call to action for Uganda to rise and peacefully protest.
Flanked by Mathias Nbsubuga, the DP Secretary general, Olara Otunnu, Samuel Lubega and Abed Bwanika, Besigye reiterated his demands for a free and fair election. He said that any attempts at organizing fresh elections must put into consideration the need for an independent electoral commission, a claen voters register, and a uniform method of voter identification.
Besigye also says that the illicit and massive use of money to woo voter support must be stamped out. He also says that all candidates must be availed equal access to the public media.
Besigye noted that democracy in Uganda would never be attained through parliament, elections and courts of law, but rather through peaceful protests.
Besigye says the protests would begin today.
