International

Republican
Institute
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For Immediate Release

March 20, 2015
Contact: Lisa Gates
202-256-4597
lgates@iri.org

IRI Poll: Ugandans Generally Satisfied with Government,

Committed to Elections but Concerned with Fairness
Kampala, Uganda A public opinion poll released today by the
International Republican Institute (IRI) reveals that while a majority of
Ugandans are generally satisfied with government performance and
committed to regular multi-party elections, they dont trust the Election
Commission and worry about the fairness of upcoming 2016 elections.
Country Headed in Right Direction
As 2014 drew to a close, Ugandans were in a relatively optimistic mood. On
balance, most people thought the country (52 percent), their personal living
conditions (48 percent) and the national economy (41 percent) have gotten
better (as opposed to stayed the same or become worse) over the preceding
12 months. And more people expected each of these to improve in the next
12 months.
Overall, two-thirds of respondents (69 percent) say the country is headed in
the right direction. Furthermore, the majority of Ugandans surveyed felt that
overall the government was performing well or very well in managing the
economy, reducing crime and delivering basic services in terms of health,
clean water, roads and education. However, government performance was
rated lower on some items such as fighting corruption, whereby 69 percent
of respondents said the government was handling corruption badly or very
badly.
Committed to Multi-Party Elections but Skeptical of Process
Ugandans overwhelmingly support regular elections for choosing their
leaders, believe leaders can influence the direction of the country and
believe that voting matters. Additionally, six-in-10 said political parties are
crucial to providing voters with choice, and 53 percent say political parties

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represent real causes and interests. Most Ugandans say the 2011 elections
were completely or mostly free and fair.
Despite views on the 2011 elections, only half of all Ugandans have
confidence that the upcoming 2016 elections will be similarly free and fair.
The vast majority of people anticipate that they will be able to choose who to
vote for freely. However, roughly half of Ugandans said they have to be
careful of what they say about politics. Similarly about one-in-two
respondents worry that they may become a victim of political violence or
intimidation in the upcoming 2016 elections. Additionally, one-in-three
voters are concerned that the announced results will not reflect the actual
voting results, and one-in-four worry that their vote will not be counted or
fairly reflected in the results. Similarly, one-in-five agreed that powerful
people can find out how you voted, even though there is supposed to be a
secret ballot.
Support Term Limits and Election Commission Overhaul
Two-thirds of all voters agreed that the president should serve a maximum of
two terms in office, and that no one should be able to serve as president if
they are older than 75 years of age. Additionally, by a large margin, people
felt the composition of the Election Commission needs to be changed (70
percent) and that the president should not be involved in the appointment of
its members (64 percent).
Methodology
The research survey was conducted by IRI in cooperation with local Ugandan
polling firm Hatchile Consult who conducted face-to-face interviews from
December 4 23, 2014. Respondents were a random, nationally
representative sample of 2,402 Ugandans, aged 18 years and older. The
margin of error for the entire study is plus or minus two percent. In total
3,039 houses were visited to obtain 2,402 interviews. Thus, the response
rate for this survey was 79 percent. This baseline survey is the first of two
polls that IRI will conduct in Uganda to capture citizen views leading up to
the 2016 elections.
The poll was funded by the United States Agency for International
Development as part of IRIs political competition and consensus building
project.
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