Uganda's 2016 elections may have been the most competitive in the country’s long struggle for democracy, but almost everything about this election was a foregone conclusion: nobody expected a free and fair ballot. Nobody expected President Museveni to lose. And nobody was surprised when ‘the Old Man’, Uganda’s ruler for the last 30 years, was declared the undisputed winner with 60.6 percent of the vote. Even the post- election condemnations by the donors that have so generously funded Uganda to the tune of US$1,658 million annually were predictable;1 the European Union’s election monitors described ‘an atmosphere of intimi- dation’, while the United States noted ‘irregularities and official conduct that are deeply inconsistent with international standards’.2 While voters turned out in great numbers, they, like the donors, have become sceptical about elections and doubt that Museveni could ever be declared a loser in a contest where he appoints the referees (electoral commissioners) and commands the security apparatus.
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