(11 Mar 2001) English/Nat
XFA
President Yoweri Museveni wrapped up his presidential campaign on Sunday, promising more than 30-thousand supporters lower taxes and more road improvements if he was elected to a final, five-year term.
Waving posters and chanting "No Change" - the Museveni campaign slogan - the crowd cheered as he listed his accomplishments, including free elementary school education, an end to dictatorship and a growing economy.
Museveni and his National Resistance Movement first took power in 1986, after a five-year bush war, ending 14 years of brutality, state-sponsored violence and economic ruin under past dictators.
Earlier on Sunday at a press conference, Museveni denied that his campaigners were intimidating voters and said he would easily win Monday's election.
Instead, the 56-year-old former guerrilla leader insisted that it was his challengers who were threatening voters.
He accused the main opposition candidate, Kizza Besigye, of trying to restore to power associates of the former brutal regimes that used to rule the country.
Museveni's accusations are especially surprising since Besigye, a retired colonel, was Museveni's personal physician during the insurrection and served as the Movement's political mastermind in the early 1990s.
Besigye, 44-years-old, broke with Museveni in November, complaining of widespread corruption within the Movement and the government.
Museveni acknowledged that corruption was widespread in Uganda, but blamed civil servants who opposed his government.
In theory, Monday's election will end weeks of dirty campaigning by the country's two main presidential candidates.
However, even before the first ballot has been cast, the opposition party has signaled that they may contest the election because of harassment during the campaign and concern that the process itself may be compromised.
Under Uganda's "no-party" system, Besigye mounted his own campaign for president and gained the backing of many key opposition leaders as an anti-corruption reformer.
Besigye has consistently complained of harassment.
At least one of his supporters was killed when soldiers opened fire following a Besigye rally a week ago and a key campaign adviser has fled the country after being detained by intelligence officers.
Opinion polls, which are not the most precise indicator, show Museveni, carrying between 50 percent and 58 percent of the vote, but they also indicate Besigye is gaining ground.
There are five other candidates in the race, polling at less than 5 percent.
Museveni must win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Besigye and independent election monitors have expressed concern about the voter registration process, which has run behind schedule.
More than 11.4 (m) million names have been listed, but all sides agree that there should be only nine (m) million voters.
Both sides have accused the other of registering supporters twice, or registering dead people.
Because of a funding shortfall, voter's cards are very primitive and can be easily forged.
Attempts to vet the voter's roles have also run behind schedule, possibly creating chaos on election day.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Even if it was the citizens of Uganda are the ones that vote against me, why should I cling to them, what are they doing for me exactly if you would ask them. The citizens of Uganda would you ask them what they have done for me. I'm the one who does everything for them."
SUPER CAPTION: Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan President
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