The leading opposition political party, Forum for democratic Change (FDC), has marked 15 years anniversary at Mandela National Stadium Namboole, Kampala.
The event according to the party spokesperson who also doubles as Kiira Municipality MP, Ssemujju Nganda, will help reinvigorate its members ahead of the anticipated 2021 general elections.
FDC was founded as a merger of various pressure groups has established itself at the centre of the pro-democracy fight in Uganda, and its first leader Col Kizza Besigye is still one of Uganda’s leading opposition figures.
It evolved from pressure group Reform Agenda, mostly for disenchanted former members and followers of President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM). First party president, Rtd. Col.Dr. Kizza Besigye was a close ally of Museveni who would later contest against him in presidential elections of 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 presidential elections.
In November 2012, Mugisha Muntu was elected as President of the FDC until November 2017 when he was defeated by Patrick Oboi Amuriat the current party President until 2022. Muntu would later break away from FDC to form his own political party, Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).
FDC has been the greatest challenger to the NRM Party in presidential and parliamentary elections, making it the largest opposition party in parliament even though it has leadership in some district local governments like Kasese and Sironko and others.
In the general election of 23 February 2006, the party won 37 out of 289 elected seats. In the presidential election, Besigye won 37.4 per cent of the vote. In the 2011 election, the party performed worse with Besigye getting 26.01 per cent of the vote and the party winning 34 seats.
