Buganda royalism and political competition in Uganda's 2011 elections

Abstract

Although the 2011 elections in Uganda did not result into the expected split between Buganda voters and President Museveni, the electoral campaign is a good empirical entry point to understand the forms of contemporary royalist mobilisations, and the way Buganda, its nature and its fate, are conceptualised by political elites today. In the constituency of Kampala where fieldwork was conducted, Buganda was very present in the rally speeches. Political adversaries saw it as a powerful source of popular support. It thus impacted the lines against which politicians competed: their strategies and the criteria against which they were asking to be judged. In their rally speeches, electoral candidates produced conflicting, but also sometimes convergent, conceptions of what it means to be a good leader in Buganda, for both men and women. Particularly, political opponents shared and projected a behavioural conception of ‘Gandaness’ that mixes autochthony and loyalty to the king.