20100817
reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Five of Uganda's opposition parties picked four candidates on Tuesday to vie for a single ticket in next year's presidential election, in a process aimed at showing unity.

The parties decided to form a coalition in July 2008, saying President Yoweri Museveni's victory in the last election stemmed more from a fractious opposition than from his popularity.

The coalition intends to field a joint candidate to run against Museveni, who is widely expected to be picked by his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party as its flag bearer.

East Africa's third largest economy will hold presidential and parliamentary elections in early 2011 as it gears up to become a top 50 oil producer.

"The NRM has chosen to run this country as a patronage system based on massive corruption and needless waste of precious resources," said front-runner Kizza Besigye, who was nominated to represent the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Uganda's main opposition party.

"There's no will to fight corruption because corruption and waste start at the very top and ultimately serve the interest of keeping the incumbent in power."

Last week, foreign donors said they would trim at least 10 percent of their $360 million contribution to Uganda's budget in the year to June 2011 because of graft concerns.

Besigye stood and lost against Museveni in the last two elections. He is widely tipped to be picked by the coalition, but political analysts say he faces a formidable challenge from a former U.N. diplomat and leader of the Uganda People's Congress, (UPC), Dr. Olara Otunnu.

Otunnu was not nominated because his party had disagreed with the coalition on the appropriate date for nominations.