By Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye
On November 8, the President of the Republic of Uganda, Gen. (rtd) Yoweri Museveni, who doubles as the national chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), sent a congratulatory message to the 47th President-elect of the United States of America.
He wrote: “I am writing on behalf of the people of Uganda to congratulate you on the historic victory you achieved on November 5, 2024. By winning both the popular and Electoral College votes, your victory was a true reflection of the feelings of the majority of citizens in the US. We, the freedom-loving people of Uganda, look forward to mutually beneficial engagement with your administration.”
In the just-concluded US presidential election, Trump of the Republican Party obtained 312 Electoral College votes, while his competitor, Harris Kamala of the Democratic Party received 226. A US presidential candidate is declared winner upon securing 217 Electoral College votes.
In the popular vote, Trump garnered 76,386,169 votes (50.10%), while Harris received 73,608,469 votes (48.39%). The third candidate, Jill Stein, who did not get a single Electoral College vote but received popular votes amounting to 761,907 (0.50%).
Throughout the campaigns, majority pollsters, especially in the US and Europe, forecast a deadlock between candidate Trump and Harris. Some even forecast a possible Harris victory. The pollsters would indicate that Harris was having an edge over Trump in the seven swing states. The swing states are Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. However, their predictions did not come to pass. Trump won the national vote and also triumphed in all the swing states, especially Pennsylvania, which is the largest of the swing states, with 19 Electoral College votes.
Also, prior to the election day, several mainstream media houses endorsed Harris’ candidature. These were mainly traditionally Liberal media houses like the New York Times, Denver Post, Los Angeles Sentinel and Seattle Times.
In its endorsement, the New York Times described Harris as “the only patriotic choice for president.” The Trump candidature received fewer endorsements from mainly traditionally conservative media houses like the New York Post. The tradition of certain media houses endorsing presidential candidates in the US elections started in 1860 when the Chicago Tribune endorsed Abraham Lincoln, who served as the 16th US president.
Though such endorsements have been a tradition, some prominent media houses in the US refrained from endorsing a particular candidate in the just-concluded presidential election. These include the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the USA Today. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of Los Angeles Times, reasoned that the decision not to offer readers a recommendation would be less divisive in a tumultuous election year.
With Uganda heading to elections in 2026, voters must be forewarned that opinion polls are not as credible as their authors want the public to believe. The recent American election proves this.
During past elections in Uganda, some pollsters have been coming up with fake polls, forecasting a victory for the rivals of candidate Museveni.
In so doing, they wanted to prepare the public that Museveni would have rigged the election if he was declared the winner. To them, the public would be incited into uprisings and riots, demanding Museveni’s ouster. And such schemes have been receiving the backing of some Western powers.
We thank God that the dishonesty of such pollsters was exposed by American voters in the recent election. This should, therefore, inform pollsters to desist from undermining voters’ choices.
The writer is a senior presidential adviser, political affairs, Office of the national chairperson/national co-ordinator Bazzukulu
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