Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

But how exactly can the post elections phase of disputed elections be managed? Obviously, there are different ways to respond to this question. In many instances, stakeholders come out of an election either completely devastated and frustrated with defeat or obsessed with victory. In the process, one common response to the question raised has been to pay very little attention to review the process. In few countries, however, attempts have been made to take deliberate efforts to review and learn from a just ended election. Tanzania is one such example. With the support of the NIMD partner, the Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD), it has become a norm in Tanzania that after an election, stakeholders are brought together in a conference during which the entire electoral process is subjected to a critical analysis under the theme: 'Healing of Wounds'. The idea is to help key stakeholders like political parties to carefully and- hopefully- objectively reflect, review and analyse the way elections were conducted and consider constructive ways in which lessons drawn from such reflections would feed into a strategic and forward looking processes.

It is against this background that on 3-6 May 2011, NIMD, within the framework of its Africa Regional Programme, facilitated a visit of a high level delegation of Ugandan politicians under the auspices of the NIMD?s supported Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) to Tanzania. The visit was to accord the Ugandan political parties an opportunity to draw lessons from the Tanzanian post elections healing of wounds processes. This was against a backdrop of a highly tense post elections atmosphere that was prevailing in Uganda following their February 2011 general elections.

During the three days they spent in Tanzania, the Ugandan delegation had the opportunity to interact with their Tanzanian counterparts in closed door sessions during which political parties in Tanzania shared some of the ways and means in which individual political parties take stock of their participation in an election. In addition, the IPOD delegation also took part in a day long ?Healing of the Wounds? Workshop that TCD organised with the support from NIMD. This workshop, as it has become a tradition in Tanzania, brought together not only political parties but also other elections stakeholders such as relevant government bodies, electoral management bodies, civil society, the media, among others. On the very last day, the Ugandan political parties had their own internal meeting during which the critically reflected on their Tanzanian experiences and drew some action points for follow-up once they were back in Kampala.

In retrospect, the Ugandan delegation was unanimous in their positive assessment of this particular visit for a number of reasons. To begin with, the visit was quite timely, organised at a time when the divide between the opposition parties and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) was widening following the February elections and in the wake of the violent demonstrations in Uganda. Under such circumstances, merely bringing together the senior leadership of political parties was a great success. In addition, the visit also underscored the fact that despite differences that characterise African countries, quite a number of challenges are common hence the need to intensify joint reflections between and among African countries. The Ugandan delegation also acknowledged the importance of taking deliberate efforts to take stock of an electoral process both as individual political parties and also jointly with the rest of the other stakeholders. It was thus noted that ?There is a need to deal with wounds inflicted during and after elections, and the prevention of new wounds being inflicted?. Reflecting on their own inter-party dialogue platform, IPOD members of the Ugandan delegation committed themselves to deepen and consolidate IPOD as it is increasingly becoming an important player in Ugandan politics given the importance of dialogue in conflict management. Following this visit, it is expected that IPOD will facilitate the organisation of a similar 'Healing of the Wounds' workshop in Kampala as one way of managing the post elections phase there and also to draw lessons for the future.