Uganda's campaign season highlights a shift toward hybrid campaigning where traditional methods coexist with digital innovation and symbolic experimentation.

As Uganda approaches its elections on 15 January, the campaign trail has revealed as much about how political actors seek power as why they seek it. Beyond competing manifestos and personalities, this campaign cycle has showcased a wide range of campaign strategies -- traditional, modern, and unconventional -- each aimed at capturing voter attention in an increasingly crowded political space. The effectiveness of these methods will ultimately be judged by the results, but their deployment already offers important insights into the state of political campaigning in the Pearl of Africa.

It is important to acknowledge that Uganda's electoral landscape is not an even playing field. The country's political environment has long been characterised by restrictions on opposition activity, uneven access to resources, and limitations on where, how, and when different candidates can campaign. As a result, not all political actors can deploy the same range of campaign techniques described here.

Some strategies are enabled by incumbency and state reach, while others are constrained by regulation, security enforcement or administrative barriers. This article does not seek to equate opportunity or fairness among candidates. Rather, it focuses specifically on the political campaign techniques and strategies visible during this election campaign cycle...