In the acrimonious FDC internal party elections in November 2012, major General Mugisha Muntu defeated his main rival Budadiri west MP Nelson Nandala Mafabi. The other contestant in the race to replace Doctor Kiiza Besigye who had stepped down early was then Toro county MP Geoffrey. Now the party issued a roadmap for the nomination and election of the new office bearers in Uganda’s biggest opposition party. The exercise would kick off in July.

” We agreed that we will have the national council on June 8th. the national council is responsible for setting the agenda for the delegates conference which we were planning to hold in November”MP Ibrahim Semujju Nganda (FDC Spokesperson).

FDC spokesman and Kira municipality MP Ibrahim Semujju Nganda told NTV that those interested in contesting the top 30 positions were to begin by picking nomination forms to express interest. He also laid out the qualifications for contestants as stipulated in the FDC party constitution.

“We allow even if you are 18 years old you can always come and pick the nomination forms, last time we paid 3 million. The working committees now are looking at whether we should maintain the 3 million. you must also have a valid FDC, 2017 members card, and you must be a voter in Uganda, you must be registered”, MP Ibrahim Semujju Nganda (FDC Spokesperson).

In 2012, the candidates were given only two months to campaign but the party had extended the campaign period.

” the districts in Uganda keep multiplying. So, during the last elections we campaigned for two months. now we intend to have a three months campaign”, MP Ibrahim Semujju Nganda (FDC Spokesperson).

The acrimonious contest on 22nd November 2012 putting Nandala Mafabi against major general Mugisha Muntu left the party bruised with supporters of the two men taking long to heal from the contest. It is not yet clear whether these two would face up again and whether that contest would not weaken cohesion in the opposition party.