Uganda: Press Gallery - Can the New Reforms Offer Clean Polls Come 2011?

Lawmakers have concluded the process of passing new laws which the government believes will go a long way in ensuring that next year's general election is free from the vices that have discredited past elections.

It is a process that began in earnest, sometime in December last year, when Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya tabled four Bills; the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill, the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill, the Political Parties and Organisation (Amendment) Bill and the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill. But questions continue to abound as to what extent these new laws will guarantee a clean, free and fair poll come 2011. It was clear from the outset, however, that this would be no easy task for Parliament, given the amount of anxiety, interest and confrontation that had greeted the Bills' tabling.

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