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“A valid electoral exercise”? Uganda's 1980 Elections and the Observers’ Dilemma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Justin Willis ,
Gabrielle Lynch  and
Nic Cheeseman
Justin Willis*
Affiliation:
History, University of Durham
Gabrielle Lynch
Affiliation:
Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
Nic Cheeseman
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of African Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations & the African Studies Centre, Oxford University
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

The presence at Uganda's 1980 general elections of a Commonwealth Observer Group might be seen as a seminal moment. This was the first formal international observation of polls in a sovereign African state and the precursor of multiple similar missions that later became routine. Yet the 1980 mission sits uneasily in the history of election observation. The observers endorsed the results despite evidence of malpractice, and Uganda plunged into civil war within months. Internationally, the mission is now either forgotten or treated as an embarrassment. Within Uganda, it has been denounced as part of an outsider conspiracy to foist an unwanted president on an unwilling people. This article argues that the 1980 mission was neither entirely seminal nor an aberration, and that both the elections and observation were driven partly by actors within Uganda rather than simply imposed by outsiders. The availability of UK government records allows us to see the events of 1980 as a particularly clear example of a recurring “observers’ dilemma.” Ideally, elections combine democracy and state-building. They offer people a choice as to who will lead or represent them, and at the same time they assert through performance a crucial distinction between a capable, ordering state and a law-abiding citizenry. Yet these two aspects of elections may be in tension; a poll that offers little or no real choice may still perform “stateness” through substantial, orderly public participation. When that happens in what would now be called a “fragile state,” should international observers denounce the results?

Type
Research Article
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 211 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 2017 

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82 Secretary of State Carrington to BHC Kampala, 29 Apr. 1980, UKNA FCO 68/845.

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84 Text of speech, piece 206 in UKNA FCO 31/2906.

85 The speech was reported in Uganda: “Free Elections Only Way to Democracy,” Uganda Times, 24 Nov. 1980: 4.

86 “UPC Defines Attitude on Foreign Observation of Elections,” Kampala Domestic Service, 13 July 1980, FBIS LD 131905.

87 Allinson, FCO to Luce, FCO, 12 Sept. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2909.

88 “Ugandans Alone Have the Final Say,” Uganda Times, 19 Nov. 1980: 1; “No Pride in Observers,” Uganda Times, 6 Dec. 1980: 1; Editorial “We Wish the Poll Observers a Happy Stay,” Uganda Times, 27 Nov. 1980” 4.

89 “Anyoti Expresses Confidence in the Polls,” Uganda Times, 28 Nov. 1980: 8.

90 Smart, BHC Canberra to Barltrop, Commonwealth Coordination Department, 8 Oct. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2910.

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93 Flack, BHC Kampala to Robson FCO, 6 Sept. 1980 [so dated, but location in file suggests Oct.], UKNA FCO 31/2910.

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96 Raftery, FCO to Allinson, FCO, 22 Aug. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2908; Allinson, note, 15 Sept. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2909.

97 Briefing for Lord Privy Seal, 24 Sept. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2909.

98 Nason, BHC Kampala to FCO, 10 Nov. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2913.

99 Luce, Permanent Under-Secretary to Secretary of State, 6 Nov. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2913. The concern about communism had already been explicitly raised by others: Flack, BHC Kampala to Robson, FCO, UKNA FCO 31/2910.

100 BHC Delhi to FCO, 8 Oct. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2910; and U.S. Secretary of State to U.S. Embassy Kampala, 23 Oct. 1980, copy in UKNA FCO 31/2911.

101 Secretary of State to BHC Kampala, 10 Nov. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2913.

102 “Essential Facts,” n.d., UKNA FCO 31/2914. The Australian Government also contributed A$150,000 to the election: Smart, BHC Canberra to Barltrop, Commonwealth Coordination Department, 29 Oct. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2912.

103 Flack, BHC Kampala to FCO, 24 Oct. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2911; “Civil Servants are Cautioned,” Uganda Times, 29 Nov. 1980: 1.

104 Justin Willis interview with Mwambutsya Ndebesa, 24 Sept. 2014.

105 “DP Boycott Threat,” Uganda Times, 4 Nov. 1980: 1.

106 “Democratic Party Decides against Election Boycott,” Kampala Domestic Service, 19 Nov. 1980, FBIS LD 191940.

107 Message for Australian High Commission, via BHC, Nairobi, 8 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915.

108 BHC Kampala to Australian High Commission, Nairobi, 8 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915; see also Muwanga to Ssemogerere, 5 Dec. 1980, and marginal notes, in Commonwealth Secretariat archive item 14, CS 2013/052.

109 “Anyoti Challenges Commonwealth,” Uganda Times, 6 Dec. 1980: 1; also “UPC Heads for Victory,” and “Obote Concerned over Delay,” Uganda Times, 9 Dec. 1980: 1.

110 Hillier-Fry, BHC Kampala to FCO, 5 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915. The letter is one of the few documents regarding the Uganda election in the Commonwealth Secretariat archive: Debra to Kikira, Electoral Commission, 29 Nov. 1980, item 7, CS 2013/52.

111 Bundu to Ssekono, 3 Dec. 1980, Commonwealth Secretariat, item 12, CS 2013/052.

112 Robson, FCO to Allinson, 9 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915.

113 Hillier-Fry, BHC Kampala to FCO, 9 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915.

114 Commonwealth Secretariat file CS 2013/52.

115 “UPC Heads for Victory,” Uganda Times, 9 Dec. 1980: 1.

116 Editorial, “Cast Your Vote Wisely,” Uganda Times, 8 Dec. 1980: 4.

117 Editorial, “No Violence at Polling Stations,” Uganda Times, 9 Dec. 1980: 4.

118 “Suspension of Office,” Kampala Domestic Service, 11 Dec. 1980, FBIS LD 112018.

119 Allinson to Luce (reporting a conversation with Ramphal), 10 Dec 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915; Bwengye, Agony of Uganda, 207–9.

120 See for example “General Elections 1980: Kabarole Constituency,” Kabarole District Archive, Fort Portal, ELE 374/1.

121 “Army Commander Makes Statement on Elections,” Kampala Domestic Service, 10 Dec. 1980, FBIS LD 102038.

122 “Government Proclamation on Elections,” Kampala Domestic Service, 11 Dec. 1980, FBIS LD 112010.

123 Hillier-Fry, BHC Kampala to FCO, 12 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2915.

124 Robert Wainwright, “The Memoirs of Robert Wainwright,” Rhodes House library, RH MSS Brit Emp. S. 524, vol. II, 342–43.

125 “Uganda Military Commission Press Release,” Kampala Domestic Service, 13 Dec. 1980, FBIS LD 131528.

126 Hillier-Fry, BHC Kampala to FCO, 16 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2916.

127 “Muwanga's Speech,” Kampala Domestic Service, 15 Dec. 1980, FBIS LD 151308; “Obote Is to Be Sworn in Today,” Uganda Times, 15 Dec. 1980: 1. Years later, Obote's (partisan) biographer cheerfully adduced the Commonwealth report as evidence that the elections had been fair: Ingham, Kenneth, Obote: A Political Biography (New York: Routledge, 1994), 169–75Google Scholar.

128 Editorial, “Do You Know Uganda?” Washington Post, 15 Dec. 1980: 20.

129 Henderson, British Embassy, Washington, D.C. to FCO, 15 Dec. 1980; and Hillier-Fry, BHC Kampala to FCO, 17 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2916.

130 Robson to Allinson, 17 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2916.

131 Editorial, “We Do not Want these Journalists,” Uganda Times, 16 Dec. 1980: 4; Robson, FCO to Allinson, FCO, 17 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2916.

132 Justin Willis interview with Damian Mutahiigwa, 12 June 2015.

133 Justin Willis interview with Kitaka-Gaweera, 24 Mar. 2015.

134 Robson, FCO to Allinson, FCO, 16 Dec. 1980, UKNA FCO 31/2916.

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137 Uganda Elections, December 1980: The Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group, copy in UKNA FCO 31/2916, 7.

138 Ibid., 28, 34.

139 For the retrospective views of an observer, see Wainwright, “Memoirs of Robert Wainwright,” vol. II, 341–42.

140 Nic Cheeseman, Gabrielle Lynch, and Justin Willis, “The Man Who Overstayed,” Foreign Policy, 16 Feb. 2016.

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143 Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group: Uganda Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, 18 February 2011, http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/commonwealth/governance/uganda-presidential-and-parliamentary-elections-18-february-2011_9781848591097-en#.V-p8FvArKuU, 28, 38 (accessed 27 Sept. 2016).

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