This article is missing information about the party's ideology. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(January 2015)
The Forum for Democratic Change (Swahili: Jukwaa la Mabadiliko ya Kidemokrasia; FDC), founded on 16 December 2004, is the main opposition party in Uganda.[1] The FDC was founded as an umbrella body called Reform Agenda, mostly for disenchanted former members and followers of President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM). Party president Kizza Besigye, formerly a close ally of Museveni, was a candidate in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 presidential elections. In November 2012, Mugisha Muntu was elected as President of the FDC until November 2017 when he was defeated by Patrick Oboi Amuriat the current party President until 2022.[2]
FDC has been one of the greatest challengers to the NRM Party in the 2006, 2011, and 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. Besigye was the party's presidential candidate, taking 37 per cent of the vote against Museveni's 59 per cent. Besigye alleged fraud and rejected the result.
In the general election of 23 February 2006, the party won 37 out of 289 elected seats. In the presidential election on the same date, Besigye won 37.4 per cent of the vote. In the 2011 election, the party performed worse with Besigye getting 26.01 per cent of the vote and the party winning 34 seats.
Background
The origins of the FDC are intertwined with the history of the ruling NRM led by President Museveni. The NRM through its military wing the National Resistance Army (NRA) fought a successful guerrilla war against the governments of Milton Obote and Tito Okello and came to power in Uganda in 1986. During the guerrilla war, Museveni successfully moulded various interest groups into an effective military machine, and on achieving power, he began to build the NRM into a cohesive political organisation. The transition process and the NRM's desire to broaden its political base revealed other interests within the party and a feeling amongst some senior members of being sidelined.
Museveni had relied heavily on the support of the Tutsi refugees and their descendants who had been forced out of Rwanda by the Hutu majority in the 1960s. During the guerrilla war, the NRA had moved from the central district of Luwero to the west of the country where most of the Tutsis had been recruited. On achieving power, Tutsis like Paul Kagame and Fred Gisa Rwigyema were rewarded with powerful positions within the army and government.
The NRA advance on Kampala was very rapid, and during this process, hundreds of new recruits were incorporated into the NRA. Many of these came from Museveni's own tribe, the Banyankole, and other western tribes like the Batoro. When the NRA advanced back into Buganda through the town of Masaka, their ranks were expanded by Baganda, many who travelled from different parts of Buganda to join the guerrillas. For many of these, the common goal was simply to oust the northern-dominated government. There were also those who saw the opportunity to use the NRA to achieve Buganda's ambitions of autonomy.
Splits within the NRM
Another important development was the NRA recruitment of younger impressionable soldiers who often held Museveni in awe. This did not often go down well with the more senior NRA officers:
"He was also clever that he recruited very young and inexperienced people; the kind that would obey him. Many of them were either coming from university or those who had not even been to school".
The younger educated cadres began to gain more influence in the NRM. Many had only joined the war towards its conclusion or had joined as NRM cadres after the war. This rivalry was often vocal and acrimonious:
"Many people have intimidated us, calling us (young people) creepers and sycophants of Museveni".
The young cadres and the Tutsi refugees formed the new power base of the NRM, and the party increasingly appeared tribal. Ugandan politics has been plagued by tribalism, and the young cadres with their new influence often encouraged the appointment of their relatives into key government positions. Most of these cadres were from the south-west of Uganda like Museveni.
This power base was suddenly weakened when the Tutsi refugees led by Fred Rwigema decided to return to Rwanda to fight the government (Habyarimana). The loss of so many key military and political advisers particularly in the intelligence services left Museveni vulnerable. The NRM realised it had to broaden its appeal, first by appeasing the Baganda (Uganda's largest ethnic group) by restoring their king the Kabaka, and recruiting more people from other tribes into the armed forces. The NRM also emphasised its role in restoring law and order to the country and continuously evoked the fear amongst the southern tribes that the brutal northern armies of Obote and Idi Amin could return if the NRM failed. This fear was facilitated by the war in the north waged by the Lords Resistance Army. The NRM also presided over rapid economic growth in the south of Uganda.
With this new confidence, Museveni began to act against those challenging his authority in the NRM. Many of these were the original members of the NRM/NRA, including the army commander Major General Mugisha Muntu and other once powerful NRM leaders. Many of these leaders opted for quiet retirement in their home districts, but others, like Mugisha Muntu and the former NRM spokesperson Winnie Byanyima, began openly criticising Museveni. There appeared, however, to have been little enthusiasm to completely break with the NRM, rather to encourage change from within.
This changed in the elections in 2001 when retired NRA officer Besigye challenged Museveni for the presidency. Besigye was relatively unknown outside the NRM/NRA establishment,[citation needed] but his courage in standing for election attracted support.
The FDC was formally established in 2004. Besigye had gone into exile in the United States and then South Africa. The genesis of the party, however, was in Uganda where many disgruntled NRM members were actively promoting the establishment of a political organisation to challenge Museveni. This desire was further cemented when Museveni amended the constitution to allow him to stand for a third presidential term. This had angered many NRM veterans who had remained in the NRM waiting to take over when Museveni stood down. The amendment was criticised by some of Museveni's closest allies, like Eriya Kategaya who at the time was seen by many as the number two in the NRM/NRA political hierarchy. This opposition, however, did not bother Museveni who had by now firmly established himself in the NRM.
The FDC benefited from this disquiet, and when Besigye returned to Uganda, he found the FDC had considerable support even within the ranks of the NRM. This factor prompted Museveni to arrest Besigye. Although it was doubtful that Besigye could win an election against Museveni, the fact that he was attracting support from the NRA (now renamed the Uganda People's Defence Force) members brought the spectre of a split in the army. The FDC had many ex-NRA commanders in its ranks, including the former army commander Mugisha Muntu. Another factor was that many of these politicians were from the same region of Uganda as Museveni and, therefore, they could attract support from the president's own backyard.
Besigye's arrest was a political blunder that served to increase the popularity of the FDC. But the party now began to suffer from its success. Many of the prominent ex-NRM members were reluctant to publicly criticise Museveni. Politicians like Eriya Kategaya, who was now in the FDC leadership, were tentative in their approach. A further hindrance was that the government placed enormous restrictions on Besigye's ability to mount a national campaign. The FDC was extremely popular in urban areas like the capital city, Kampala, but with limited campaign time, he could not effectively campaign in rural areas where 70 percent of the population live. The NRM, on the other hand, spent enormous energy campaigning in rural areas and small towns.
The FDC and Besigye were also popular in the north where the population has suffered almost two decades of war between the government and the Lord's Resistance Army. This was despite the fact that the FDC hardly campaigned in this area. This is a reflection of the grievances felt by northern Ugandans who often felt abandoned by the government in Kampala.
Despite these obstacles, the FDC won over 30 percent of the vote, a major achievement for a party that was hardly a year old. The party eclipsed the traditional opposition parties like the Uganda People's Congress and the Democratic Party.
In 2011, the FDC once again led the opposition to Museveni and the NRM in the presidential and parliamentary elections. The party once again failed to overturn Museveni's popularity. The FDC did worse than in 2006. Since the 2011 election, the party has been central in organising street demonstrations - some which have resulted in violent confrontations with the police.
Formation of People's Government
After the 2016 general election, the FDC flag bearer, Dr. Kizza Besigye, contested Electoral Commission results. This was after he was under house arrest for three months he went ahead to swear himself in as the Ugandan People's President in a secret location. He went ahead to create what came to be known as a People's Government with a full cabinet and district leaders.[3] Kampala Lord Mayor Elias Lukwago was appointed Vice President, and a big number of opposition politicians were appointed and currently serve in the People's Government.
The history of Uganda comprises the history of the people who inhabited the territory of present-day Uganda before the establishment of the Republic of Uganda, and the history of that country once it was established. Evidence from the Paleolithic era shows humans have inhabited Uganda for at least 50,000 years. The forests of Uganda were gradually cleared for agriculture by people who probably spoke Central Sudanic languages. The Empire of Kitara grew out of the Urewe culture in the 10th century. Following the migration and invasion of Luo peoples c. 15th century, Kitara would collapse, and from the ashes rose various Biito kingdoms such as Bunyoro alongside Buganda.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa is a Ugandan politician and military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2024, he is the third-longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world. His government is considered autocratic.
The History of Uganda from 1979 to 1986 comprises the history of Uganda since the end of the dictatorship of Idi Amin. This period has seen the second rule of Milton Obote and the presidency of Yoweri Museveni since 1986, in which Ugandan politics have been dominated by the National Resistance Movement.
The National Resistance Movement has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986.
Eriya Kategaya was a Ugandan lawyer and politician. At the time of his death he was Uganda's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs. He was also an ex officio Member of the Ugandan Parliament, on account of being a cabinet minister.
The Uganda Electoral Commission (EC) provides national elections for a president and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term. The Parliament is composed of members directly elected to represent constituencies, and one woman representative for every district; as well representatives of special interest groups, including the army, youth, workers and persons with disabilities.
Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe, known as Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye, is a Ugandan physician, politician, and former military officer of the Uganda People's Defence Force. He served as the president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) political party and was an unsuccessful candidate in Uganda's 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016 presidential elections, losing all of them to the incumbent, Yoweri Museveni, who has been president of Uganda since 26 January 1986. The results of the 2006 elections were contested in court, and the court found massive rigging and disenfranchisement. Besigye allowed an early internal FDC election for a successor president, which took place on 24 November 2012.
General elections were held in Uganda on 23 February 2006. They were the first multi-party elections since President Yoweri Museveni took over power in 1986, and followed a referendum the previous year on scrapping the ban on party politics.
The Ugandan Bush War was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number of rebel groups, most importantly the National Resistance Army (NRA), from 1980 to 1986.
Gregory Mugisha Muntuyera, commonly referred to as Mugisha Muntu, is a Ugandan politician and retired military officer. He is the current president of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), a political party he founded in March 2019. He previously served as the President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), an opposition political party, from 2012 to 2017. In September 2018, General Muntu parted ways with the FDC citing ideological differences with the new FDC leadership of Hon. Patrick Oboi Amuriat. On 27 September 2018 he announced in a televised press conference that he and some other leaders had begun what he called the New Formation which later became the ANT.
Norbert Mao is a Ugandan political activist and lawyer. He has been president of the Democratic Party since 2010, three time presidential candidate and served as the Local Council 5 chairman for Gulu District. He is the current minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the Ugandan government, an office he assumed on 21 July 2022. He was appointed to this position by Yoweri Museveni, the president of the Republic of Uganda. The appointment drew immense criticism from the Democratic Party, an opposition party he is currently serving as president. It was seen as a move by President Museveni to tame the Party and clip its wings to criticize his government.
Presidential elections were held in Uganda on 12 March 2001. The incumbent Yoweri Museveni won 69% of the vote and was elected to a second term. All candidates were independents, as political parties were banned at the time. Voter turnout was 70.3%.
Henry Tumukunde is a politician and retired senior military officer of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF). He ran as an independent candidate for president in the 2021 Ugandan general election.
Beti Olive Namisango Kamya-Turomwe, also known as Betty Kamya and Beti Kamya, is a businesswoman and politician in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community. She is the Inspector General of Government in Uganda, since 16 July 2021.
General elections were held in Uganda on 18 February 2016 to elect the President and Parliament. Polling day was declared a national holiday.
In Uganda, the Leader of the Opposition (LOP) is the leader of the largest political party in the Parliament of Uganda that is not in government. The Leader of the Opposition appoints and heads an alternative shadow cabinet whose duty it is to challenge and influence governmental actions and legislation on the floor of Parliament.
The Battle of Kampala was a battle of the Ugandan Bush War that took place from 17 to 26 January 1986 in which forces of the National Resistance Army (NRA) attacked and captured the Ugandan capital, Kampala, from the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). As a result, the Ugandan government was deposed and replaced by a new one under NRA leader Yoweri Museveni.
The People Power, Our Power movement is a resistance pressure group in Uganda. It is led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, who is the MP for Kyadondo East constituency. The movement seeks to unite Ugandans on issues such as ending human rights abuse, corruption and redefining the rule of law, with a focus on young Ugandans. The movement was primarily sparked by civil unrest with Yoweri Museveni's extended presidency, after he announced plans to extend his third-longest tenure in Africa by seeking re-election in 2021.
The Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), founded on 19 March 2019, is a political party in Uganda.
The National Unity Platform, formerly the National Unity, Reconciliation and Development Party (NURP), is a political party in Uganda led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu The NURP was led by Moses Nkonge Kibalama from December 2004 until July 2020. On 14 July 2020, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu assumed leadership of the party and was declared the party flag-bearer for the January 2021 Ugandan presidential elections.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Ugandaportal 
