Democratic Party

The Democratic Party (; DP) is a moderate conservative political party in Uganda led by Norbert Mao. The DP was led by Paul Ssemogerere for 25 years until his retirement in November 2005. John Ssebaana Kizito replaced Ssemogerere, and led the party until February 2010, when Norbert Mao was elected party president. In the general election of 18 February 2011, the party won 11 out of 238 elected seats. In the presidential election of the same date, Mao won 1.86 percent of the vote. As of June 2013, the party had fifteen seats in the parliament. Background The DP was formed out of the religious and economic demographics that began to model politics in Buganda before Uganda's independence. Buganda is Uganda's largest ethnic region and has influenced the country's politics since the country was drawn up by the British colonial power. Buganda, like most parts of Africa before independence, had been visited by three key religious forces - the Roman Catholics, the Church of England (Protestant Christians), and Islam. They battled each other to extend their influence in Buganda and Uganda as a whole. In Buganda, all three built powerful indigenous alliances and tried to influence the Buganda King - the Kabaka. By the 1950s, the Protestants had achieved the most influence over the Kabaka.