Buganda royalism and political competition in Uganda’s 2011 elections
Résumé
Although the 2011 elections in Uganda did not result into the expected split
between Buganda voters and President Museveni, the electoral campaign is a
good empirical entry point to understand the forms of contemporary royalist
mobilisations, and the way Buganda, its nature and its fate, are conceptualised by
political elites today. In the constituency of Kampala where fieldwork was
conducted, Buganda was very present in the rally speeches. Political adversaries
saw it as a powerful source of popular support. It thus impacted the lines against
which politicians competed: their strategies and the criteria against which they
were asking to be judged. In their rally speeches, electoral candidates produced
conflicting, but also sometimes convergent, conceptions of what it means to
be a good leader in Buganda, for both men and women. Particularly, political
opponents shared and projected a behavioural conception of ‘Gandaness’ that
mixes autochthony and loyalty to the king.