The Electoral Commission informs the general public that the exercise for Display of the National Voters’ Register ends today, Tuesday 10th March 2020, at all polling stations countrywide.
The Display exercise commenced on Wednesday 19th February 2020 at all the 34,344 polling stations in the country. The Commission further designated 19th – 28th February 2020 as the period for display of Voters’ Registers for Special Interest Groups (SIGs), namely, the Youths, Persons with Disability (PWD), and Older Persons at Village level. That exercise ended as well.
There shall be no extension of the Display exercise.
The purpose of the above display exercise was to enable voters to check for the correctness of their particulars on the Voters’ Register and to raise objections to the inclusion and/or removal of a voter’s particulars from the Register.
During this exercise, the Commission allowed members of the public to scrutinize the Voters’ Register and report to the Display Officer, the following categories of persons (if they appear on the Register) for removal:
- Those who have died;
- Those who are under 18 years of age;
- Those who reside or originate from a parish other than the one they are registered in; and,
- Those who appear more than once on the Voters’ Register.
During this exercise, the Commission also displayed the lists of persons who were recommended for deletion from the National Voters’ Register during the Village Verification exercise which was conducted in October 2019.
Following the conclusion of the Display, the Commission shall now proceed to display the lists of all persons recommended for deletion or inclusion by the Tribunal from the National Voters’ Register, for a period of ten (10) days, that is, from 11th to 20th March 2020 at each respective Parish/Ward Headquarter.
The purpose of this exercise is to enable the public to scrutinize the above lists and any person who may have been wrongly recommended for deletion or inclusion to raise an objection to the Parish/Ward Tribunal.
The Parish/Ward Tribunal shall consider and make the final decision concerning the recommendations for inclusion, deletion, or correction made by the public.
Please note that the Parish/Ward Tribunal is appointed by the Magistrate of the area, and is comprised of two elders (of 60 years and above) one male and one female, and three other members appointed in consultation with political parties and organisations participating in the elections in the area.
All complaints arising from the Display Exercise of the National Voters Register shall be addressed to the Returning Officers of the respective Electoral Districts and shall be handled in accordance with Article 61(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and Section 15 of the Electoral Commission Act, Cap 140.
After the Parish Tribunal process, the Commission will collect all the data for preparation of the final National Voters’ Register in time for conducting the first cycle of elections under the General Elections Road map, namely, Elections of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) Committees (Youths, Persons with Disability and Older Persons), which are scheduled for April 2020.
The Electoral Commission appreciates the support of various stakeholders in the electoral process for their role in mobilising the public to participate in the Display of the Register.
The Commission further reminds all stakeholders to participate in all the electoral activities as scheduled in the Road map for the 2020/2021 General Elections.
Justice Byabakama Mugenyi Simon
Chairperson, Electoral Commission
