PART "A" - ELECTIONS

7.0 INTRODUCTION
7.1  The relevant Term of Reference on the Electoral Process states: "To examine the electoral system with a view to recommending whether Presidential and Parliamentary elections should be held at the same time and whether elections should be conducted by lining up of supporters behind candidates ".
7.1.1.  We interpret this Term as requiring us to review the Electoral process as laid down in Chapter Five on Representation of the People and as implemented in the various laws passed by Parliament and regulations made there under.  We take into account the objectives of the Constitution and how they have been achieved.
7.1.2  The question as to whether the election of the President and that of Parliament should be held on the same day is only one of the issues that the review demands.
Part "A" deals with Elections. Part "B" deals with Succession to Political Office.

7.2 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
7.2.1   An important manifestation of democracy is the exercise of the right to elect representatives. It is a basic national objective that the "State shall be based on democratic principles which empower and encourage the active participation of all citizens at all levels in their governance". The Sovereignty of the people is recognized by the Constitution, which States that the people "shall express their will and consent on who shall Govern them and how they should be governed through regular, free And fair elections of their representatives".   Every adult Ugandan has a right to participate in elections. The State is enjoined to ensure that people exercise the right.
The Constitution entrusts to an independent commission the function of organizing all the ellections.   The functions of the Electoral Commission include:
Demarcation of boundaries of Constituencies; Registration of Voters, and updating the Register of Voters; Organising and supervising elections and referenda. In the performance of its functions, the Commission is not subject to the direction and control of any person or authority.

7.3 THE LAW
7.3.1   In order to ensure the right to vote. Parliament has enacted The Presidential Elections Act. No.l7 of 2000, and the Parliamentary Elections Ac. No. 8 of 2001 which governs the election of the President and of Parliament.  Because of the differing limits, the practice has been to hold elections on different days, the presidential and parliamentary elections are held on different days. The Term of Reference requires that the issue as to whether both elections should fall on the same day be specifically considered. The issue was debated at length in the Constituent Assembly.  The debate has continued since then.
7.3.2  Previous elections were, the electoral process was riddled with flaws and as a result it was difficult for the process to result in stable democratic governments. Malpractices occurred in several forms such as:
Gerrymandering of Constituencies to the benefit of a political group;
Confining nomination of candidates to a few hours of one day thereby enabling physical prevention of candidates from achieving nomination;
Lack of transparency inherent in using multiple ballot boxes, casting of the vote out of the public view, and moving ballot boxes away from the polling station before counting;
Unfair advantage enjoyed by sitting leaders arising out of their access to and use of public facilities plus the government media.
The present Constitution and the Law have to a considerable degree dealt with these malpractices.

7.4 Constituencies
7.4.1   Under both the 1962 and the 1967 Constitution, the Electoral Commission was empowered to divide the Country into Constituencies equal to the number of elected members of the National Assembly.   The Constitutional criteria for demarcation of Constituencies was:
i)        The boundaries of each Constituency were to be determined so as to be as nearly equal to the population quota as was reasonably practicable; and,
ii)       The approximation to the population quota had to take into account the means of communication, geographical features and the density of population.

7.4.2 Population based constituencies were criticized because: The demarcation was gerrymandered in favour of particular groups.  The Constituencies sometimes cut across administrative units making it
cumbersome for the representative to traverse boundaries of counties or sub-counties to serve his Constituents. It is for these reasons that the county was adopted as the basic constituency.  The demarcation is still guided by demographic factors:
Each county is represented by at least one member of Parliament; Counties with large populations are divided into two or more Constituencies to be as nearly equal to the population quota as is possible;  A Constituency must not traverse Counties.

7.4.2  Fair Treatment for all Contestants (a) Campaigns The drive towards fairness and equality of treatment of all candidates is manifest in the Constitution and the law. For example, all the Electoral Laws ensure: Equal campaigns periods; Equal access to the Government owned media; Protection
from malicious or defamatory campaign tactics.

7.4.3  Nomination In the past, nominations were confined to three hours (9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m.) of a single day. The limitation was most unreasonable. Besides, on record are allegations that in the 1980 elections, some candidates were physically hampered from presenting their nominations in time. Nomination of candidates now goes on for two days.

7.4.4  Balloting and counting of Votes Perhaps nowhere else in the Constitution have the people reacted so strongly to past experience than in the electoral process. Emphasis on transparency and fairness is clearly evident in articles that define in detail the procedure for voting.  It has to be by secret ballot using one box for all candidates at each Polling Station. Counting the ballot papers and recording the results must take place on the spot immediately after the close of the poll. The other details of the voting procedure are to be found in the electoral law.

7.5    THE PROBLEMS 7.5.1  In the organization of the last two parliamentary elections, no serious problems attributable to deficiencies within the law have been encountered. Both elections were however fraught with organizational lapses that led to numerous complaints and, many court petitions. One factor contributing to the lapses was constitutional and legal deadlines coupled with the failure of Parliament to pass the necessary laws in time.

7.5.2  In both the 1996 and 2001 elections, the process faced an acute time constraint. Crucial activities such as budgeting and sourcing for funds cannot be properly accomplished unless the law is in place. An election involves necessary activities such as updating voters' register, printing ballot papers which printing must be preceded by nominations, supervising campaigns and conducting the polls. All these, and others unmentioned, could not be accomplished smoothly within the short periods in which the previous elections were organised. Because of time constraints, during the 2001 Presidential elections. Electoral Commission had to reduce the period for the display of voters' register to five days instead of displaying it for the twenty one days intended by the law.  We noted that while the time frame for the conduct of elections is constrained by constitutional guidelines, there are no legal deadlines within which the enabling laws have to be passed by Parliament.

7.5.3  Other problems have been identified by the people's views which are reproduced below.

7.6 THE VIEWS AND CONCERNS OF THE PEOPLE
7.6.1 The electoral process involves many activities some of which are: The organizational process - who organizes the electoral activities The registration of voters and maintenance of a Voters' Register; Determining of Constituency boundaries; Nominations Election campaigns; Conduct of the ballot; Security during the elections; Electoral fairness; Determination of disputes; The people identified problems and made observations on each of these activities.

7.6.2  On the Electoral Commission It did not appear to be free of influence; To strengthen its independence, it should be headed by a Judge; Appointment of members the Commission by the President erodes its independence; Parliament should appoint members of the Commission; Political parties should have an input in the appointment of members of the Commission.

7.6.3 On the Registration of Voters The registration of voters was done incompetently in all previous occasions; The Voters' Register in many areas is never displayed or is not displayed for a period long enough for the people to study; The Electoral Commission is prone to issuing contradictory guidelines e.g. as to whether or not voters whose names had not been captured by the Register could vote.

7.6.4  On Campaigns and Fairness in the conduct of Elections the incumbent President and Ministers have undue advantage of incumbency;
i)         They campaign ahead of the official campaign period, and, ii) They utilize public resources during elections; The incumbent President who is a candidate in a presidential election should resign before campaigns for the elections begin and; The Chief Justice should run the Government during a presidential election.  The Government owned media gives too much coverage to the President and Ministers during campaigns.  For fairness and confidentiality, all local Government elections should be by secret ballot.

7.6.5  On Conduct of the Ballot Electoral Colleges for the election of Women District Representative to Parliament should be abolished. Election of Women District Representatives to Parliament should be by Universal Adult Suffrage. That election of representatives of persons with disabilities to Parliament should be by secret ballot and through regional electoral colleges.

7.6.6  On Constituencies The size of Parliament is too big;   " A county should continue to be the basic Constituency. However big in size or population, the county should not be divided into two or more Constituencies.  Constituencies should be demarcated according to the population density; The population quota for Constituencies should be increased. The Constituency for representatives of People With Disabilities in Parliament should be the Region.

7.6.7 On Election Disputes The Electoral Commission does not determine some elections complaints decisively so as to minimize disputes in Court; A person who has lost an election on account of having been personally involved in a fraudulent or illegal practice should be disqualified from being a member of Parliament:
i) For a fixed period, or, ii) For ever

7.6.8  On Security during Elections The Army is to blame for most of the violence in elections; The Army should never be deployed to keep the peace during elections; It is only the Police that should keep the peace during elections; Personnel in the Army should never vote; or, They should vote in designated areas preferably the Barracks; The Army should vote in public with other civilians.

7.7 OBSERVATIONS
7.7.1   The Electoral Commission Implicit from the people's view is a concern over the independence, impartiality, and effectiveness of the Ellectoral Commission. Our view is that the constitutional provisions on appointment have sufficient safeguards. Appointing members of the Commission is an executive function.  The people's representatives in Parliament should provide an input by approving the appointments.   Political Parties as key stakeholders, can participate in the process through Parliament. Electoral Commission should not consist of delegates of party interest because it would loose its independence.

7.7.2  Having a Judge as the Chairperson of the Commission cannot by itself guarantee independence and impartiality. However, the functions of the Commission call for implementation of laws of great political importance. We are recommending an additional function of reviewing electoral laws and studying proposed legislation in order to make appropriate recommendation to Parliament.  The Commission exercises a judicial function when it hears and determines election complaints. We also envisage another vote of the Commission as an Arbitrator between political parties when they are in dispute over unfair practices. All these plus the additional role of registering political parties and deregistering them where necessary, requires the strengthening of the electoral Commission.

We have examined the composition of Electoral Commissions in several countries. In many of these countries the Chairperson is a judge or retired judge or a person qualified to be a judge of a superior court.  In Africa, examples are Botwana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
There exists many examples outside Africa. Incorporating judicial qualities emphasizes the capacity and independence to implement legislation which is fraught with potentials for dispute and also to be able to stand firmly in the face of challenges whatever the source. We recommend that the Chairperson and at least one more member of the Electoral Commission should be persons who have either held office as judges or who are qualified to hold the office of judge of any of the superior courts.

7.7.3  Security Tenure of Members of Electoral Commission. It is common knowledge that the tenure of members of the first Electoral Commission was ended prematurely.  Their removal was triggered by a Report of the Inspector General of Government. The Report made diverse findings against individual members putting to question the integrity and moral standing of some. It does not appear from the Report that the individuals against whom the findings were made had been given an adequate opportunity to clear their names during or after the investigations or before their appointments were terminated. Regardless of what was or was not proved and without passing judgment on the propriety of the action taken, we are of the view that security of tenure reinforces the independence of the Commission. The Constitution declares that the members may be removed from office only for:
a) inability to perform the functions of office arising out of physical or mental incapacity; b) misbehaviour or misconduct; or, c) incompetence
What is lacking is a mechanism by which a member of the Commission can be removed fairly, after due inquiry, in which he or she has an opportunity to be heard in defence of his or her conduct.  We do not support the proposal of the Government that the removal of a member of the Commission on the ground of misbehaviour or misconduct should be at the recommendation of the Inspector General of Government.  It is so important to secure the independence and autonomy of this institution that a member of the Commission should not be removed unless the ground of removal is proved before a judicial inquiry.  We recommend that the inquiry should be conducted by a tribunal appointed by the President on the advice of the Cabinet.

Additional Functions For the Commission 7.7.4  In order to improve efficiency, the Electoral Commission needs to be adequately facilitated and in time.  Most important, effective management is the result of careful planning.  Whereas Parliament should provide the legal framework when needed, the Commission can on its part draw on the experience gained from the several elections since 1996 to plan in anticipation of or regardless of possible legislative reforms. We propose some additional functions for the Commission as detailed below:
The Commission should not be a passive recipient of legislature decrees that occasionally come late. The Commission as the key player in implementing electoral laws should be continuously involved in advising the legislature on necessary amendments to the law. We recommend therefore that one function of the Electoral Commission should be to study and review electoral laws and any proposed electoral legislation and make appropriate recommendations to Parliament.  Under the multiparty system, political parties are the prime institutions of participation. The sovereignty of the people through free and fair elections finds expression through the medium of political parties.  The Electoral Commission has to work closely with political parties. We have reviewed the Constitution and laws of other countries and we find that it is usual to vest on Electoral Commission with power register and supervise political parties. Examples are South Africa, Ireland. We recommend that functions of the Electoral Commission should include to register and supervise the functioning of political parties.  The Commission should also promote cooperation with and amongst political parties.  It is anticipated that in the political parties may occasionally be involved in disputes arising, for example, out of unfair practices. To foster cooperation and harmony, the Electoral Commission should arbitrate such disputes.

7.7.5  Electoral Fairness The Electoral Laws provide sufficient safeguards.
For example, candidates are assured of equal access to official assistance and use of public facilities including the State-owned communication media.  Candidates who are political leaders must not use public resources for campaign. In summary, if the laws were implemented, there would be less complaints about fairness.

The repeated sentiments against an incumbent President who is a candidate remaining in power during the campaigns, arise out of genuine concern for fair play and orderly succession to government. It is a fact that in Africa, incumbent Presidents have rarely lost power through elections  and that most elections have been accompanied by allegations of rigging and manipulation in favour of the incumbent leaders.  Further, because of the past experience, people tend to associate the presidency with unbridled powers.  Hence, the belief that the power of incumbency would bear unfairly on the elections and the proposal that the incumbent President who is a candidate steps down.

7.7.6  Nevertheless, the efficacy and practicability of the proposal is doubtful.   A President will not loose the power and advantage of incumbency merely by stepping down and handing over government in a transitional manner. Besides, absence of effective government during elections can itself hinder orderly succession. All the problems the people have identified cannot be solved merely by a political vacuum however, temporary.

7.7.7  Constituencies. The County as a Basic Constituency - The fear of gerrymandering is the main reason why the county was chosen as the basic constituency for the Parliamentary elections under the NRM administration.  But counties were demarcated for administrative and not electoral
convenience. The demarcation did not necessarily take into account population density.  Therefore, for representational purposes the county as a local government unit is a convenient but not an equitable unit.

7.7.8  Representative democracy is about representing the people.
Accordingly, Constituencies  should  be  demarcated  in  taking  into account  that  each representative should as far as in practicable represent an equal number of people. The Constitution already provides a satisfactory formula in Article 63. However, considering that the Sub-county is the effective local government closest to the people, the advantages of an administrative unit as the basis of a constituency can be retained by a demarcation which ensures that every constituency is a cluster of sub-counties, that no Constituency should cut across the boundaries of any subcounty.
The principles applied to the demarcation of electoral areas for local government elections are essentially the same as those applied to parliamentary elections. The number of people to be represented is fixed by the Local Governments Act. The electoral areas are demarcated so that every administrative unit is represented. For example, at the District level, every Sub-county or Municipal division must be represented and electoral areas must not cut across boundaries of administrative units. The same principle applies to the sub-county, municipality, city division or town levels where every parish or ward in those local government units is represented.

The people did not express concerns about electoral areas for local government units.  At this level, the system which combines fixed population quotas with assured representation for administrative units is understood and appreciated by the parties.

7.7.9  Electoral Colleges - District Women Representatives As already pointed out, a wide range of views were received about Electoral Colleges for election of district women and representatives of special groups to Parliament.  In the case of women, there are those who proposed to continue with the College.  The main reason is that the district is too big a constituency for the woman candidate to cover in the campaigns.  A few proposed that the College be limited to women electors.  But the majority who discussed this issue preferred that the district women representatives to Parliament be elected by universal adult suffrage.

The reasons advanced in support of universal adult suffrage are that: Electoral Colleges are susceptible to influence by the candidates; The woman's role is representation of the whole district and not only women or political leaders. The whole district should participate in the elections.  These arguments carry merit. It can be added that universal adult suffrage is the method least open to manipulation in a multiparty elections.

We have given some thought to the method of elections for women representatives. It may be argued that because they represent all the people in local government unit, partisan considerations should not be allowed to influence their election. Following this argument would imply that the women candidates should stand on individual merit or as independent candidates.  Taking the argument to its logical conclusion, women representatives would be barred from partisan decisions in Parliament.   This is impracticable.  We think that the best option is to leave the decision to the candidate whether to choose sponsorship by a political party or to stand as an independent candidate.

7.7.10 Persons with disabilities The Electoral College method is the most appropriate for elections of representatives of persons with disabilities.  However, the persons with disabilities would prefer that since the members of Parliament represent regions, the Electoral Colleges for members of Parliament should be based in the Region. In other words, there should be an electoral college for every region to be represented.

Insecurity during elections The people identified the major causes of insecurity during elections: The involvement of the army in keeping the peace and as security personnel for some candidates.
Disregard of the principle of individual merit by leaders who Campaign and assist some candidates. This has caused resentment and friction amongst candidates because they believe that in all inclusive system, some candidates should not be given preference. Insufficient police personnel to maintain order.
The tendency to rely on money and other material inducements for votes. Supporters who have been induced by material become overzealous in campaigns.  The candidates themselves who have invested heavily in elections become susceptible to illegal practices and violence.

The Army and other security personnel be blamed as responsible for much of the insecurity that has occurred. In the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2001, the Army was deployed because of the shortage in police personnel. If it becomes necessary for the army or any other security agency to supplement the efforts of the police, this should be done in a transparent manner.

The Electoral Commission should be involved in the supervision of the agencies that provide security during elections. Much as it is desirable that the police should be strengthened, it is unlikely that by the next general elections, the police will have built enough capacity to man all the polling stations.  The Commission will continue to rely on Election Constables whom Presiding Officers are empowered by law to appoint.  However, under the law, appointment of a person to serve as an Election Constable is done by a presiding officer at a rural polling station only when there is no police officer to maintain order.   At that stage, it is too late to sensitise the recruit about the elections procedures for him/her to perform the function effectively.
In our view, the law should be amended to empower the Electoral Commission to acquire services of personnel from the police or from the public willing to serve as Election Constable ahead of the polling day. This is to facilitate the education of the personnel in the necessary laws andprocedures of elections.  All the personnel providing security during elections should be under the supervision of the Commission.

Although there was a strong sentiment against the Army participating in elections, this was partly conditioned by the provision for representation of the Army in Parliament. It was felt the Army was adequately represented and should not participate in civilian elections.

The Army personnel are entitled to their civic rights including the vote.  They should however participate by casting their votes at the normal polling stations.

7.7.11 Election Disputes The major concern here is about the propriety of allowing candidates who have lost election petitions to stand in subsequent elections.  An election can be set aside on the grounds that:
the relevant electoral law has not been complied with and the results of the election have therefore been substantially affected; a person other than the one declared as elected won the elections; an illegal practice or any other offence under the electoral law has been committed by the candidate
personally or with his/her knowledge and consent or approval; the candidate who was declared as a winner was not qualified to stand.

Of these, an illegal practice stands out because of the personal involvement and culpable conduct of the candidate.  An illegal practice encompasses various activities such as treating, bribery, and publication of false statements as to the illness death or withdrawal of a candidate. All the electoral laws regard illegal practices as more grave than other electoral offences because, when proved against a candidate, his/her election is nullified. Under the old law which was (The National Assembly (Elections) Act Cap.lSI). The Court trying an election petition was empowered to report to the Electoral Commission whether any corrupt practice had been proved to have been committed by or with the knowledge of the candidate.  Upon the report being made, the candidate would be disqualified from standing for a parliamentary seat for a period of five years.  It may be noted that conduct amounting to a corrupt practice under the old law is substantially the same as that constituting an illegal practice in the current law.

The current position under the Electoral Laws is that a Court which, in the course of determining the election petition, finds that a candidate has committed an illegal practice simply refers the misconduct to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Prosecutions are at the discretion of that office. No person has been prosecuted so far. In any case a conviction may not necessarily result into a disqualification unless the sentence exceeds nine months which is the sentence grave enough to disqualify a person from standing for election. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, an
illegal practice attracts a sentence of six months. We recommend that a person who has been found by a Court trying an election petition to have committed an illegal practice within the previous five years should be disqualified from standing for an election.

7.8    TIMING FOR PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 7.8.1   The debates have centred on the issue as formed in the Terms of Reference that is whether the Presidential and the Parliamentary elections should be held on the same day. The majority are of the view that the elections be held on the same day because:
It is expensive to hold separate elections; People have the capacity to vote for both the presidential and the Parliamentary candidate on the same occasion; It will reduce election fatigue; The President has unfairly influenced elections by campaigning for favoured candidates;  When the election of the President is conducted before the Parliamentary elections, the parliamentary candidates who are known to be strong supporters of the elected President have an undue advantage.
The argument advanced for keeping the elections separate are:
The office the President is very dignified whose elections to this office should therefore be kept separate from all others; The majority of voters are illiterate or lack the capacity to make a choice out of many presidential and parliamentary candidates at the same occasion.  If the President is elected first, he will have the opportunity to influence the elections of members of Parliament with whom to work in a harmonious environment; Keeping the elections separate increases for the people the benefit of close contact with the political leaders as the later campaign or solicit for votes.

7.8.2  The people have responded widely on the issue.  The majority  (85% Groups, 74% Individual .... Memoranda) want the elections to be held on the same day. The people point to the cost, the influence of one election over the other and possible election fatigue.

7.8.3  The most pronounced concern besides the cost, is about the elected President's influence. The observation in answer to this concern is that the President has an interest in the merits of the persons she/he anticipates to work with. On the other hand, so far all candidates stand under the Movement system on individual merit. This implied that no organ of the Movement including the Chairman should sponsor or campaign for any candidate.  When elections are held under a multiparty system, all party organs, officials and members will naturally sponsor and campaign for candidates.

7.8.4  Cost is a very relevant consideration.   Although democracy is said to be expensive, a poor country should save money whenever it is possible. An analysis of the funding for the presidential and parliamentary elections of 2001 reveals that they cost the country over 20 billion shillings excluding an amount of over 11 billion shillings spent on the photographic voter cards project. Since the elections were separated by a short period of four months some election activities were common to both, (e.g. updating the register, training and civic education).  Most of the other activities would have to be funded whether the elections were on the same day or not.   The major
ones are: materials and equipment and costs or elections of special interest groups. The saving would be in the area of allowances for Supervisors and Polling officials. These are clearly duplicated. A saving is made although not so substantial to justify a change.

7.8.5  We see merit in the argument based on election fatigue. The figures on voter turn up in the previous elections indicate significant falls as between the presidential, parliamentary and local government elections.  Equally important considerations are:
the hidden cost in terms of time spent by the people during electioneering;  the possibility that fairness may be enhanced if the presidential and the parliamentary candidates are engaged at the same time; the fact that during the local government elections, the people were able to participate in one unified exercise to elect the Chairperson, directly elected Councillors, and women councillors.

The Government proposes that all elections including Local Government elections be held on the same day. In our view this would be too gigantic a leap to be adopted immediately. It is feasible but improbable that at the next general election the people will be able to sieve through the multiple presidential,  parliamentary and  local government elections on the same day.  However, the principle is acceptable and should be accommodated after the next presidential and parliamentary elections.

7.9    PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION 7.9.1 Uganda's elections follow the plurality model. The characteristics of this model are:
Candidates stand in single member constituencies; A candidate with the highest number of votes cast is declared the winner; The winning candidate does not have to obtain a majority of The votes cast. The 'first-past-the-post" is the winner.
The merits of the plurality model are:
Votes are cast for individuals and not organisations; hence, It is simple to understand and simple to organize.  The "first-pastthe post" system was developed in a pre-literate age to allow voters express their choice by placing a mark on the ballot paper. The people can fully participate in the electoral process up to the last step when results are counted.
The demerits are: A candidate may win though he/she has not obtained a majority of the votes cast in the constituency.  If ten candidates contested the election and all polled evenly, the winner could win byjust over 10 per cent when over 80 per cent of the voters do not support him/her.
A political party can gain the highest numerical strength in Parliament although it may not have won the majority of the votes cast; hence, The people elected may not be representing the majority view in the Constituency or even nationwise.
One way of making the plurality model more representative is to adopt a "two ballot" version or to insist on an absolute majority as is the case for the presidential election. For reasons of cost, absolute majorities for parliamentary elections are impracticable.

7.9.2  Another concern arising from the use of the plurality/majority system is that it favours strong parties that can support many candidates to win in their Constituencies.   Smaller parties that achieve significant majorities may be underrepresented.

7.9.3  Various forms of Proportional Representation (PR) have been adopted as an answer to the demerits of the plurality system. PR is mostly associated with continental Europe. The adoption of any form of PR must take into account that: a)      Ugandan society is not highly literate; b) The people are accustomed to voting not only for individuals as opposed to policies, but also for candidates who are members of the community in the constituency.  It is only the simplest of the PR types that can be appreciated by the people with that sort of election experience.

.9.4  A simplified version of the "additional member system" (AMS) is easy to appreciate because it enables voters to cast votes for individuals. The AMS system is a hybrid of 'first-past-the-post' and PR systems.  A percentage of the seats, (usually one half) in Parliament are competed for through single member constituencies by individuals who win by simple majority.  The remaining seats are allocated on the basis of a PR election in proportion to the votes cast for political parties. For this purpose the parties prepare party lists of candidates who may take the seats.  In order to guarantee proportionality and equity, the allocation of PR seats must take into account the total distribution of seats.  If for example a party won 60 seats in single member constituencies, and was due 70 seats on the basis of overall national proportionality, it would be given an additional 10 seats from the PR allocation. If a party won in none of the single member constituencies but won votes entitling it to 10 seats on the basis of national proportionality, then it would be allocated all the ten

seats.  If the PR seats are allocated in isolation of the national proportionality, as is done in Japan, the distortions of the first-past-the post' system are perpetuated.

7.9.4  AMS systems of elections differ.   They differ in the percentages of PR to constituency seats. They also differ in the sizes of thresholds. In Germany half the legislature is elected from single member constituencies and half from PR seats. In order to limit the allocation of PR seats to serious political parties, AMS systems adopt thresholds. In Germany, only parties winning over 5 per cent of the national vote or three constituency seats qualify for PR seats. Depending on the magnitude, a threshold could have the effect of weeding the party system of new weak organisations.

7.9.6  This type of PR has the following advantages: Through the PR seats representation of parties is spread more equitably; It is possible to enrich Parliament with persons with special skills and experience through the party seats; Parties are encouraged to win support throughout the country, thus becoming truly national institutions.  In the Uganda contest where many people vote for individuals, it may, be used to incorporate the principle of individual merit to the multiparty system of elections. PR can strengthen participatory democracy and encourage new dynamic and nationalistic organizations to form and grow.

It  should  be  mentioned  that  in  terms  of enabling  broad representation  in Government, PR is more effective in a parliamentary than in a presidential form of government. Because of the complexities surrounding it, a serious study of the various models of PR has to precede any decision to adopt the system. We are therefore not recommending adoption of the system.

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