Age limit battle: Who is winning?

This page is maintained for historical purposes. On Wednesday 20 December 2017, Parliament passed the bill to lift the constitutional age limit of 75 years for presidential candidates.

As the battle rages to remove the constitutional cap of 75 years of age for presidential candidates, The Observer keeps you up-to-date with all the developments - including how the numbers stack up in Parliament and how voters, opinion leaders and voters are reacting - through this age limit battle tracker.

The contentious move to amend the constitution to remove the age limit would, if it succeeds, allow incumbent President Yoweri Museveni who has ruled Uganda for almost 32 years, and who would otherwise be ineligible, to stand again for the presidency in 2021. He could, potentially, become Uganda's "president for life".

The decision rests primarily with Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling NRM. However, with the attempt to remove the term limit seemingly unpopular with voters in many parts of the country, a number of NRM Members of Parliament are defying their party to oppose the attempt.

The Observer surveyed MPs and analysed their public statements to establish how they intend to vote on the age limit removal bill. The data, presented below, will be updated regularly, to reflect the latest situation.

See also:

• Parliament passes age limit bill
• Age limit: How your MP voted
• MPs extend their tenure to 7 years
• How opposition tactics failed to stop Magyezi juggernaut
• Tension, drama as MPs debate age limit Bill
• Age limit: soldiers raid parliament again
• Legal committee (main & minority) reports on age limit bill
• Police deploys 1,000 officers ahead of age limit debate

Not surprisingly, as our data below shows, many MPs, especially NRM MPs, are refusing to state where they stand on the matter, probably fearing a backlash from voters or from the state.

Interestingly, our data also shows that while some NRM MPs have decided to defy the views of their constituents by supporting the controversial attempt to remove the term limits, no single MP has gone the other way to oppose the move when his or her constituents support it.

With two-thirds of 436 voting MPs required to see through the proposed constitutional amendment to remove the age limit, at least 291 MPs are required for the move to succeed. In light of significant public opposition to the move, it is not clear yet that the NRM has the required numbers, its overwhelming majority in Parliament notwithstanding.