Politics of Uganda

From Free net encyclopedia

The Politics of Uganda is based on a democratic parliamentary system with universal suffrage for all citizens over 18 years of age.

1 Executive
2 Legislature
3 Judiciary
4 Constitution
5 Political parties and elections
6 Ministries of Uganda
7 International organization participation:
8 External links
9 Press articles

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Executive

The head of state in Uganda is the President, who is elected by a popular vote to a five-year term. This is currently Yoweri Museveni, who is also the head of the armed forces. The last presidential elections were in March 2001 and will take place again at some point in 2006.

The cabinet is appointed by the president from among elected legislators. The prime minister, currently Apolo Nsibambi, assists the president in the supervision of the cabinet.

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Legislature

Legislative responsibility is vested in the unicameral 303-person national assembly. 214 members are directly elected, the remaining 81 are nominated by legally established special interest groups: women 56, army 10, disabled 5, youth 5, labor 5. The last national assembly elections were held in June 2001 and the next are due May or June 2006.

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Judiciary

The Ugandan judiciary operates as an independent branch of government and consists of magistrate's courts, high courts, courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court. Judges for the High Court are appointed by the president; Judges for the Court of Appeal are appointed by the president and approved by the legislature.

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Constitution

The Ugandan constitution was adopted on October 8 1995 by the interim, 284-member Constituent Assembly, charged with debating the draft constitution that had been proposed in May 1993.

In 1995, the government restored the legal system to one based on English common law and customary law. Uganda accepts compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction, with reservations.

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