Opposition political parties have expressed concern towards the electoral commission which they say is fond of ambushing them with tight roadmaps when they are given very little time to prepare for elections.
Some political parties have began preliminary preparations for Local Council and women council elections Following the release of Quarter 2 funds to the electoral commission to organise the elections
Following the expiry of the term of office For Local Councils in july this year, Government extended their term of office for another 6 months due to lack of funds a tune of 80 billion the Electoral Commission required to organise the elections
The Finance ministry on 6th of october released funds shillings 97 billion to the electoral commission of which 58 billion is earmarked to organised Local council and Women council elections
There have been media reports circulating of a tentative roadmap for these elections which the electoral commission has already dismissed, the EC spokesman Paul bukenya in an interview with NBS says they are yet to release a roadmap and asked stakeholders to be put
Its from this that some political parties from the opposition say the Electoral commission seldom gives them time to organise and mobilize but ambushes them with a roadmap which the EC spokesman dismisses
Joel Ssenyonyi the National Unity Platform Spokesman says the Electoral commission is not forth coming with its communication after several newspapers published stories with tentative roadmap which the EC dismissed as not true, Ssenyonyi who shares the same sentiments with Alliance for National Transformation's Secretary General Alice Alaso says the Electoral Commission wants to ambush them like it has always done and publish the roadmap in a way that suits the NRM.
The Electoral commission Spokesman Paul Bukenya says political parties as one of the stakeholders are the first one to be engaged before the roadmap is made public, he dismissed the allegations as diversionary
Elections in Uganda are not strangers to chaos, election expert Charity Ahimbisibwe says the Electoral commission needs to do better in terms of Voter registration, Voter education and work with village leaders to have transparency
The last LC election conducted in 2028 by lining up behind the candidate saw chaos in some areas, Ahimbisibwe says the activity undermines the core values of democracy enshrined in the constitution. She says the voter id deprived of the right to vote secretly were many are often called by friends on the other lines and at that point the issue of ideological representation is undermined
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Despite the woes the parties say have started preparations to participate in the elections and preparations for mobilizations are just about to resume since the elections were called off just months to the due date
Charity Ahimbisibwe says its important for political parties especially on the opposition to participate by fielding candidates at all positions as this helps them in mobilizing support for 2026
In June 2022 the EC announced the cancellation of the local council and Women council elections due to lack of funds. Despite the extension of term, some Local Council officials abandoned their offices.
The police spokesman in Kampala metropolitan Patrick Onyango says this caused a surge in petty offences and misdemeanours reported to police overwhelming them which earlier could be handled by village chairpersons and the election he says will be a relief to them.
According to data released by the Electoral Commission in June 2022, there is a total of 71,230 registered villages, 10,717 parishes and 421,430 women council leaders across 146 districts
The Commission is tasked with updating voter registers, displaying them and nomination of candidates. The current LC I and LC II leaders were elected in 2018 across 10,595 parishes and 70,626 villages
