The greatest roadblock to free and fair elections in 2011 will be the Electoral Commission (EC), Opposition political leaders have said.

The leaders have also said that the involvement of state security organs in politics was another warning sign that 2011 presidential and parliamentary elections will not be free and fair.

Speaking to the Sunday Monitor, a cross-section of Opposition party leaders concurred that if the current set up of the EC is not changed, Uganda would go the way of Kenya where violence broke out following the recent presidential election or Zimbabwe where election results were delayed after President Robert Mugabe lost.

"As we move to 2011, the area of election process itself remains a big problem," said Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu. "We need to have the necessary reforms done early enough like restructuring the EC."

He said that the current EC leadership was not independent and could therefore not be expected manage the process credibly.

"It is only an independent EC that can clean the voters' register and organise civic education early enough," Gen. Muntu said.

"Once the EC is compromised, it doesn't do civic education early enough."

The Opposition also insist that there must be an agreement between them and the ruling NRM party on who becomes a commissioner at EC before the elections.

"We want people who would make elections credible by their professional conduct," said Gen. Muntu, "not necessarily Opposition members but those who will run EC without compromising the process."

UPC's Peter Walubiri said: "EC is still partial; it is appointed, directed and operated by [the] NRM party" while DP's Erias Lukwago said: " Even if we do our best and defeat Museveni in 2011, I doubt whether the EC we have now will declare results against President Museveni."

The Opposition chiefs say that although parties enjoyed freedom on paper, the political space was still restricted by police and military agencies.

"Fear has been instilled in people by President Museveni," said Mr Lukwago. "You can't distinguish between the state and the person of Museveni."

The DP MP for Kampala Central also said the hard task the Opposition faces is mass mobilisation to change the mindset of the public. "People should be ready to defy Museveni; they need to understand that with or without Museveni, we still have a country called Uganda," he said.

UPC's Walubiri was concerned that the ability of the Opposition to mobilise was hindered by economic isolation of their supporters.

"Patronage and corruption disadvantage our supporters," he said. "People who are poor can't vote with their hearts but by their stomachs."

The Secretary General of UPC also said that business people who would like to support Opposition parties "fear being blacklisted during tender awards and jobs". "We expect to get money from our members but they are poor," said Mr Walubiri. "People in the service industry also disassociate from us."

"Major decisions in the country are taken by the High Command; the military remains dominant in our politics yet the ordinary people fear guns," Mr Walubiri said.