Ugandan politician urges men to sex strike for votes

A Ugandan opposition politician on Thursday urged his male supporters to go on sex strike until their wives promise not to vote for the ruling party in upcoming national elections. Most analysts believe the February poll will return long-running President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party to power.

"You say you are opposition supporters but your wives are still voting for the NRM," Stanley Kalembaye told a group of men at a town hall meeting. "I suggest you tell them you will deny them conjugal rights until they change parties."

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) candidate, who is running for mayor in the southwestern Mbarara town, said the men should explain to their wives that NRM rule had led to unemployment and lack of growth. "They should try to explain the situation to their wives who may not hear about it when they are home with the children," Kalembaye said. "But if they are frustrated their wives don't understand, they may deny sex."

Sex strikes have been used as political weapons in African countries before - but they are more usually organised by women against men. Thousands of Kenyan women claimed to deny their husbands sex last year in a bid to end post election strife and a group of Liberian women did the same in a campaign that many say played a role in ending that country's lengthy civil war.