Presidential candidates push EC on final register

Presidential candidates running to be elected to the highest office in the land in seven days have pushed the Electoral Commission (EC) to the wall, demanding a copy of the cleaned and final voters register. Section 19 of the Electoral Commission Act Cap 176 demands the EC to issue the register to participating political parties and candidates two weeks before the polls set for next week on Thursday.

The EC had, by last evening, not issued copies of the hard register to the eight presidential candidates. But during the nomination of the candidates on September 23 and 24 last year, the EC issued soft copies of the provisional National Voters’ Register to the presidential candidates.

The lapse in beating the deadline by the EC has now forced Mr David Lewis Rubongoya, the NUP party secretary general, to pen a strong letter to the EC chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama.

“… we write to demand that the Commission immediately provide NUP with a clean and updated paper copy of the Voters Register, and fully comply with all its other outstanding statutory obligations,” he wrote. Mr Rubongoya added, “The Commission is also aware that Section 19 of the Electoral Commission Act, Cap. 176, commands it to transmit to political parties participating in elections an updated paper copy of the Voters Register containing photographs of the voters to be used on polling day, two weeks [14 days] before polling day.”

He faulted the EC on failing on its own promise. “… despite the Commission itself having gazetted 15th January, 2026, as polling day for the said presidential election, and with less than nine (9) days now to that polling day, the Commission has neither transmitted to NUP a paper copy of the updated Voters Register nor provided any lawful justification for this failure,” he stated. Mr Rubongoya reminded the EC that NUP is taking part in the 2026 General Election in which it has sponsored thousands of candidates, including at the presidential level. He questioned why the Commission has not fulfilled its December 28, 2025, statement, where it made assurances it would fulfil this requirement within the provisions of the law.

Candidates in the race

Presidential candidates in the January 15 polls include Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, incumbent Yoweri Museveni of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), and Nathan Nandala Mafabi of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Others are Maj Gen (rtd) Gregory Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), Robert Kasibante of the National Peasants Party (NPP), Elton Joseph Mabirizi of the Conservative Party (CP), Frank Bulira of the Revolutionary People’s Party (RPP), and Mubarak Munyagwa of the Common Man’s Party (CMP). Mr Rubongoya warned in the letter that NUP had studied the provisional register and found a lot of duplication of the names of voters. “We protested the duplication of thousands of names that had been repeated in the National Voters Register,” he said.

President Museveni arrives at a campaign rally recently

EC boss alleys fears

But Justice Byabakama last week assured the media that the final register doesn’t have any duplication, and in case there is any, the Biometric Voter Verification Machines would prevent anyone from voting twice. “This assurance should, therefore, put to rest any concern among stakeholders about the readiness of the National Voters’ Register for the 2026 General Election. The Commission has already clarified that this Register, which bears the photographs of the voters, shall be the basis for voting during the 2026 General Election,” he said. Justice Byabakama added, “All those whose particulars and photographs appear on the Voters’ Register, shall be eligible to vote at the polling station where they are registered, whether they have a National Identity Card or not.”

More pressure on EC

Just like NUP, the ANT party presidential candidate, Gen Muntu, also told Daily Monitor they had not received the voters register by 4pm yesterday. “They promised we would get it on Monday (this week), but up to now (yesterday) we have not got it,” he said. Similarly, Mr Moses Birigwa, the CMP party secretary general, yesterday said, “We are on the EC’s neck to give us the register because they only gave us the soft copy on nomination day, and last week they promised they would give us the hard copy, which they haven’t.” On his part, Mr Kasibante, the NPP presidential candidate, lamented the same problem.

“We have not received the hard copy of the Voters Register, which they promised us. They only gave us the forms that we shall give to our agents.” Our efforts to speak to the NRM party were futile after Mr Emmanuel Dombo, the spokesperson at the secretariat, referred us to Dr Tanga Odoi, the party’s electoral commission chairperson. Mr Odoi did not pick up our repeated phone calls and hadn’t returned the same by press time last evening. Repeated phone calls to officials and presidential candidates of FDC, CP, and RPP all went unanswered.

Why voters register is critical

Justice Byabakama last week said the EC will, in accordance with Section 19 of the Electoral Commission Act, issue a hard copy of the photo-bearing National Voters’ Register to each of the eight candidates contesting in the 2026 presidential election. He said the National Voters’ Register bears the names of all the 21,681,491 registered voters, arranged alphabetically by surname, at each of the 50,739 polling stations across Uganda. “The purpose of issuing this Voters’ Register is to enable the candidates, through their official agents, to ensure only eligible persons are allowed to vote during the 2026 General Election and only at the polling station where they are registered as voters,” he said. He added, “… the issuance of the Register will help to keep the candidates and other stakeholders, including the electorate, updated on the status of registered voters and their voting locations.”

EC responds to criticisms

The EC yesterday did not answer directly why it had not yet issued the voters roll as demanded by the electoral law. Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the spokesperson, yesterday said, “The Commission is aware of its duty in organising the elections and it will issue the National voters Register to the candidate as required by law and this is not a matter of national discussion.” He added, “The same Commission which gave the presidential candidates the soft copies of the National Voters Register upon their nomination is the same Commission that is in charge of the process which will again give them the final version of the hard copies.”

The law

Mr Mucunguzi said the EC is very much aware of every requirement in the law, including the 14 days to the polling day time it must issue this register to the candidates.