Other Political Systems Act

Section Interpretation Section In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— " commission " means the Electoral Commission established under article 60 of the Constitution; " Minister " means the Minister responsible for constitutional affairs; " national voters register " means the national voters register maintained under section 18 of the Electoral Commission Act; " registered voter " means a person registered on the national voters register .

Section Acceptance of political systems Section No political system shall be accepted as any other democratic and representative political system for the purpose of article 69(2)(c) of the Constitution for being proposed for voting, at a referendum under article 74(1) of the Constitution, or for the purposes of a resolution of Parliament under article 74(2) of the Constitution, unless that political system has, upon a petition, been approved by Parliament before the referendum in question or the parliamentary resolution under article 74(2) of the Constitution.

Section "Any other democratic and representative political system" defined Section For the purposes of this Act, "any other democratic and representative political system" shall mean a democratic and representative political system which is different from the movement political system and the multiparty political system within the meaning of articles 70 and 71 of the Constitution respectively.

Section Petitions Section A petition for approval of a political system under this Act shall be in the form specified in the Schedule to this Act and shall— be addressed to the commission ; be brought by a person registered as a voter on the national voters register ; and be supported by not less than one thousand other persons registered as voters on the national voters register .

Section Verification by commission Section The commission shall, on receiving a petition under section 4 , verify whether the petition has been duly submitted by a registered voter and supported by the requisite number of registered voters for the purposes of section 4 . The commission , upon being satisfied that the petition has been duly submitted in accordance with section 4 , shall issue to the Minister a certificate in the prescribed form stating its finding in the matter. The commission , if not satisfied that the petition has been duly submitted in accordance with section 4 , shall notify the petitioner in writing in the prescribed form stating how the petition has failed to comply with section 4 ; and the petitioner, unless he or she wishes to withdraw the petition, shall take steps to satisfy the commission in respect of compliance with section 4 .

Section Action by Minister Section The Minister , upon receipt of the petition and certificate of the commission under section 5 (2), shall lay the petition and the certificate before Parliament within one month after receiving them or, if Parliament is not sitting, within one month after Parliament commences sitting after that.

Section Action by Parliament Section In determining if the proposed political system is democratic and representative as required by article 69 of the Constitution, Parliament shall consider whether the proposed system— The clerk to Parliament shall prepare a resolution for the approval of the political system described and named in the petition, and the Speaker of Parliament shall cause the resolution to be put to Parliament. Parliament, in considering the petition in committee, shall allow the petitioner to appear to support approval of the political system and shall, at its discretion, allow others to argue for and against the approval of the system in committee. empowers and encourages the active participation of all citizens at all levels in their own governance; provides access for all the people of Uganda to leadership positions at all levels; provides for the election of a government which shall be broadly representative of the national character and social diversity of the country; provides for all political and civic organisations aspiring to manage public affairs under the proposed system, including the organs of the political system, to conform to democratic principles...

Section Publication Section The commission , upon receiving the resolution under section 7 , shall within twenty-one days cause it to be published in the Gazette .

Section Regulations Section The Minister may, with the approval of Parliament, make regulations for giving full effect to this Act and, in particular, for prescribing anything required or authorised by this Act to be prescribed.