By-elections: Electoral commission starts display of voter registers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Electoral Commission has today started the display of the National Voters’ Register in different electoral areas where by-elections for Local Government councils are scheduled to be held.

Paul Bukenya, the Electoral Commission acting spokesperson says that the public display for the voters’ register officially starts today and will run for the next 10 days until 17th November. He says that the exercise is to help the electoral body clean up the voters register.

Bukenya says that the exercise is important since the electoral body will use the register during the nomination of candidates on 29th and 30th November, and later on during the Special Interest Groups Councilors’ and district Chairpersons elections on 15th and 16th December respectively.

According to a recent statement issued by the Electoral Commission chairman Justice Simon Byabakama, the display of the register in areas where vacancies exist begins at 8:00am and ends at 6:00 pm at all polling stations in the affected electoral areas on each of the appointed dates, including weekends.

“The purpose of this display exercise is to enable voters to check for the correctness of their particulars on the Voters Register, confirm that their photographs appear against correct particulars on the register, raise objections to the inclusion or removal of a voter’s particulars from the register, report to the display officer for removal of those who have died, under 18 years, 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,” reads part of the statement.

Byabakama says that during the display period, the Commission will also issue temporary Voter Location Slips (VLS) to voters to enable them conveniently locate their respective polling station on polling day.

After the display exercise, the Electoral Commission shall for a period of 6 days also display the lists of all persons recommended for deletion from the National Voters Register from 18th to 23rd November, at the respective parish or ward headquarters within the said electoral areas.

“The purpose of this supplementary display exercise is to enable any person who may have been wrongly recommended for deletion to raise an objection to the Parish or Ward Tribunal.

The Parish or Ward Tribunal shall consider and make the final decision concerning recommendations for inclusion, deletion, or correction made by the public,” says Byabakama.

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