Uganda president signs bill lifting presidential age limit News
Uganda president signs bill lifting presidential age limit

The Parliament of Uganda [official website] on Tuesday announced [press release] that President Yoweri Museveni [official website] has assented to a controversial bill [text, PDF] removing the presidential age limit of 75 years.

Section 102 [text] of the Ugandan Constitution had previously required that a candidate for president be between the ages of thirty-five and seventy-five. The latter provision was especially relevant to Museveni, who at 73 would be precluded from seeking another term in 2023 if Section 102(b) remained in effect. By repealing the section in its entirety, both the lower and upper limit on a president’s age have been lifted, meaning that any natural-born citizen of Uganda over the age of 18 and who is eligible to e a member of parliament under Section 80 [text] would be eligible to run for president. Notably, this includes Museveni, who has served as president since 1986.

Although Museveni’s assent was announced by Parliament on Tuesday, the announcement indicates that Museveni signed the measure on December 27.

The bill was approved by Parliament [JURIST report] in December, with 315 votes in favor and only 62 against.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Fyodor Dostoevsky sentenced to death

Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death on November 16, 1849 over his involvement in the progressive Petrashevsky Circle of intellectuals. Dostoevsky and his codefendants were scheduled to be executed on December 22 of that year, but their execution was stayed by Tsar Nicholas I after the execution ritual had been carried out. Dostoevsky was sent to Siberia instead to serve a four-year sentence. Learn more about the mock execution of Dostoevsky.

Canada executed Metis leader for treason

On November 16, 1885, the Canadian government executed Metis leader Louis Riel for high treason in the wake of the "Northwest Rebellion" that had pitted the Metis (descendants of French traders and native tribes) in what is now Saskatchewan against Canadian troops. Although Riel has lately been rehabilitated as an Indigenous francophone patriot of the Canadian West, his trial and execution remain sore points between English and French Canada.

US President Nixon signs Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act

On November 16, 1973, US President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act into law. In addition to creating an oil pipeline across the state, the Act also quashed all environmental-legal challenges regarding its construction.