Museveni to stand for 3rd term
2005-09-29 21:53
Kampala - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law a constitutional amendment that eliminates presidential term limits and makes him eligible to stand for re-election next year, say officials on Thursday.
Bernard Eceru of the Ugandan parliament said: "The president assented to the Constitutional Amendment Bill, making it an act of parliament and a law of Uganda."
He said Museveni had signed the bill with little fanfare on Monday after its passage by parliament for strenuous opposition objections in August.
The bill contained a series of constitutional amendments, including the abolition of term limits, a proscription against same-sex marriage and the designation of Swahili as Uganda's second official language after English.
However, the repeal of term limits had been the most contentious part of the package with opposition lawmakers accusing the president of wanting to remain in office for life and restoring dictatorship to Uganda.
The country's 1995 constitution had restricted a president to two five-year terms, but allies of Museveni, who came to power in 1986 coup d'etat before being elected twice, argued the limitation was undemocratic.
Without the change, Museveni would have been forced to step down when his second-elected term ends in March 2006.