2001 Elections
Prior the 2001 presidential elections, Besigye had become an opponent of Museveni's National Resistance Movement "no-party" system of government, saying that he believed the leadership was "incorrigibly off course", and that "someone had to step in and get things back on course". He advocated for the "Movement System to be viewed as, and to remain a transitional arrangement, rather than entrench it as an alternative political system".
Besigye, viewed as the only viable challenger to Museveni, was one of six candidates, during a campaign that contained much recrimination and bitterness. The other four candidates were; Aggrey Awori, Francis Bwengye, Karuhanga Chapaa and Kibirige Mayanja.
Museveni won the presidential elections by a substantial majority, and incidents of violence occurred following the announcement of the results. On 23 March 2001 Besigye contested the election results in the Supreme Court of Uganda, citing massive rigging and electoral violence by Museveni, but narrowly lost his petition to have the election results nullified. The Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that there was widespread cheating but ruled 3-2 against nullifying the results.
On 30 June 2001 Besigye was brutally arrested and detained and questioned by the police, allegedly in connection with the offense of treason. In September he fled to the United States for his life that was under threat.
Read more about this topic: Kizza Besigye
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