- The United States has announced cancellation of the diplomatic observer mission for Uganda’s election.
- The reason given was that it was denied accreditation from theUgandan government.
The United States has announced cancellation of the diplomatic observer mission of Uganda’s election. The reason given was that it was denied accreditation from the government. The U.S ambassador to Uganda, Ms Natalie Brown stated that the Electoral Commission of Uganda denied more than 75 per cent of their election observer accreditation requests. The approved accreditation of 15 she said was insufficient to observe the conduct of Uganda’s elections at polling sites across the country.
The mandate of a diplomatic observation of elections is to informally observe the conduct of elections, following strict standards of impartiality, non-interference, and compliance with local laws. During the earlier elections, the Government of Uganda had supported such U.S. observer efforts.
Ms Natalie Brown added that US was not alone in the denial of accreditation. Ugandan EC has also rejected accreditation requests from members of other diplomatic missions and large numbers of Ugandan observers. She was also of the view that without a robust participation of observers, including Ugandan observers the elections of Uganda will lack credibility..
