2026 polls: Ugandans to vote in 38 countries
A woman casts her vote at Nabbingo Polling Station in Kyengera Town Council, Wakiso District, during elections for LC3 chairpersons and their councillors on February 3, 2021. Photo/File
What you need to know:
- In 2020, Justice Lydia Mugambe of the High Court in Kampala ruled that the Electoral Commission (EC) must make arrangements for prisoners and Ugandan diaspora to vote, saying their continued disenfranchisement was against the Constitution of Uganda.
The Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs will table before Cabinet a proposal to enable prisoners and Ugandans in the diaspora vote in the 2026 and subsequent elections.
This would mean Ugandans in the diaspora would be able to vote in the 38 countries hosting its embassies in Africa, North America, the Caribbean, Oceania, Asia, and Europe.
“We are ready with our proposal to table to Cabinet soon in order to comply with what the court has proposed,” Mr Norbert Mao, the minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said in an interview with this publication yesterday.
However, details of what has been drafted for the Cabinet remains scanty.
The proposal
Mr Mao told Monitor that the proposal will include registering the diaspora community, directing those who are in countries where Uganda has no embassy to countries where Uganda has diplomatic missions so that they can vote from there and putting up logistics which will enable them to vote.
“As you know, due to financial constraints, we don’t have representation in every country in the world. Those are the practical things we are going to have to look at, how to make sure that the right to vote is accessible by Ugandans in the diaspora,” the Justice minister said.
“For instance, in South America, we are very thin on the ground, so if Ugandans are in South America, they would have to travel to the United States of America. Even those in the Caribbean would have to travel to the United States,” he added.
“In West Africa, we are in Nigeria, in Europe, we are also fairly thin on the ground. We are not everywhere in Asia, but I do believe that Ugandans should know that it is the will of the government to ensure our citizens in the diaspora vote and we know where the largest concentrations are. So I believe that logistically, North America and the UK may be easier to handle,” Mr Mao said.
Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the head of public relations and the spokesperson of the Electoral Commission, said consultations are ongoing to pave way for Ugandans abroad and those in prisons to vote.
“Consultations with the Justice ministry and the Attorney General’s chambers on the matter are ongoing. We await the outcome of those consultations,’’ he said.
Mr Mao added that all those in the diaspora who want to vote will have to first be registered by the National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira), which record the EC will use during the polling exercise.
He also admitted that the process might prove more difficult than envisaged because of lack of finances and logistics.
Background
In 2018, Steven Kalali, a lawyer, sued the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General at the High Court Civil Division in Kampala, seeking voting rights for prisoners who are 18 years and above, and Ugandans in the diaspora of the same age bracket.
Kalali had argued that prisoners in Uganda of 18 years and above possess the fundamental and inalienable right to be registered as voters and to vote, based on Article 59(1) and (2) of the Constitution. He said excluding these Ugandans from the voters’ registration exercise is illegal and a violation of their fundamental right to be registered as voters and participate in various voting exercises.
In 2020, Justice Lydia Mugambe of the High Court in Kampala ruled that the Electoral Commission (EC) must make arrangements for prisoners and Ugandan diaspora to vote, saying their continued disenfranchisement was against the Constitution of Uganda.
Justice Mugambe added that prisoners and the diaspora are part of the citizens envisaged in Article 59 and that as the supreme law of the land, all other laws must be in consonance with the Constitution.
Countries with Uganda’s embassies
Africa: South Africa, Angola, DRC Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia.
North America: USA,Canada, The Caribbean: Cuba Oceania: Australia Asia: Malaysia, China, Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, India, United Arab Emirates
Europe: Turkey, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and Italy.
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