The Forum for Democratic Change—FDC has set August 10th and 11th as nomination dates for the party presidential aspirants.
The decision was reached at on Wednesday in a National Executive Committee meeting chaired by Dr. Kiiza Besigye, the party president who is retiring this year after being at the helm of FDC for seven years.
So far Nandala Mafabi, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament and Maj. Gen Mugisha Muntu, the secretary for mobilization, have expressed interest in the top party leadership.
Salamu Musumba, the FDC Vice President tells Uganda Radio Network that a calendar has been set on how the party will handle the process and a road map is expected to be announced on Monday next week.
Musumba adds that they are still harmonizing the nomination dates to make sure they are within the party constitution. The election process to see who takes over the party leadership shall be concluded by the end of November this year.
Dr. Besigye has made it clear he will not stand for Presidency come 2016. The retired army officer whose second term expires in 2014 has previously announced that he would not seek to extend his leadership as party president.
While the party constitution bars him from running for the party presidency after two terms, it does not stop him from contesting on the party ticket for the national presidency.
Meanwhile the party will nominate Winfred Kiiza its party chief whip tomorrow morning for the Kasese Woman Member of Parliament seat.
The election of Kiiza was quashed by court over irregularities in the electoral process that saw valid votes wrongfully nullified.
Three Justices of the Court of Appeal led by the Deputy Chief Justice Alice Mpagi Bahigeine found that more than 6,841 votes were invalidated wrongfully because Electoral Commission officials did not know their role. The Judges noted that the invalidated votes affected the results substantially and ordered for fresh polls.
The party has planned to hold its first rally in Kasese on Monday. The FDC NEC members however raised concerns saying government could use the political instability in Congo to intimidate voters to attend their rally.
They expressed worry that with Kasese’s proximity to the Democratic Republic of Congo, government could set up several army units and use the scare of the Allied Democratic Forces once again to disadvantage the whole electoral process.
The NEC members also noted that the Electoral Commission should present them with the voters’ register early enough to avoid voting by refugees.
