The Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) Simon Mugenyi Byabakama on Wednesday updated the country on the 2020/21 general elections.
The EC chairman highlighted activities that have already been concluded, for instance, elections for Special Interest Groups (SIGs) committees from the village to the sub-county level.
From 21st – 22nd September, the commission will oversee the nomination of Municipality and City Division SIG committee candidates (Older Persons, Persons With Disabilities, Youth), which will be followed by Municipality and City Division SIG committee campaigns, which are slated for 23rd – 24th September.
Polling for Municipality and City Division OP committees will be on 25th September, followed by polling for Municipality and City Division PWD Committees on 28th September and polling for Municipality and City Division Youth committees on 30th September.
“As the SIGs elections progress, the Commission reiterates that the health and safety of the voters, candidates, elections staff and other stakeholders should be the most important consideration during the electoral process,” Byabakama cautioned Ugandans.
“All stakeholders should, therefore, carefully observe the Standard Operating Procedures that have been developed to guide the conduct of electoral activities under the COVID 19 environment.”
The Commission also completed the demarcation of parliamentary constituencies, which was necessary because of the creation of new counties, cities and town councils and sub-counties. This happened after the Commission had rolled out the Revised Roadmap.
“The purpose of the demarcation exercise was to clearly define the areas of representation to Parliament by Directly Elected Members of Parliament in response to various changes in population, boundaries and numbers of constituencies prescribed in accordance with Article 63(1) of the Constitution,” he said.
Now, the country has 353 demarcated parliamentary constituencies and the list is on the EC website and gazetted.
The EC has also conducted a number of other activities, and as at 17th September, the electoral statistics stand as follows: 146 districts, 312 counties, 353 constituencies, 2,184 Sub Counties/Towns/Municipal Divisions, 10,595 parishes and 70,626 villages.
There are also 34,344 polling stations, 17,658,527 registered voters (males: 8,439,564 [47.79%] and females: 9,218,963 [52.21%]).
Nominations
The Electoral Commission has appointed 21st September to 1st October 2020, as the dates for the nomination of candidates for Local Government Councils Elections 2021.
The nomination of candidates will take place during weekdays, beginning at 9am and ending at 5pm on each of the appointed dates and venues as indicated below:
– District/City Chairperson and District/City Councillor: 21st Sept –1st Oct 2020 at the respective district headquarters
– Municipality/City Division Chairperson and Municipality/City Division Councillor: 21st Sept –1st Oct 2020 at the respective district headquarters.
– Sub-county/Town/Municipal Division Chairperson and Sub County/Town/Municipal Division Councillor, from 21st Sept – 1st Oct 2020 at respective County Headquarters.
The nomination exercise will be followed by a campaign period leading to the polling days for the various elective positions (above), during the period January 10th – February 8th, 2021.
The EC has urged all persons aspiring to contest in the elections to familiarize themselves with the requirements for nomination for each elective position.