Kampala - Ugandans voted in a referendum yesterday to decide whether to retain a "no-party" political system or return to a multi-party formula which President Yoweri Museveni argues could revive the horrors of the past. The referendum will almost certainly be won by Mr Museveni's no-party Movement - of which, in theory, every Ugandan is a member - against a repressed pluralist lobby that has put up a lacklustre fight. The Movement has led Uganda since Mr Museveni took power in 1986 after a five-year guerrilla struggle, with political parties allowed to exist in name only.
The president has repeatedly warned Ugandans that a return to multi-partyism would mean a return to the tribal and religious divisions preyed on by former presidents Idi Amin and Milton Obote to tighten their own grip on power. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed in indiscriminate purges in a decade and a half of tyrannical rule under the two leaders. The results of the referendum are expected on Saturday.