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A step-by-step guide for 2026 voter registration

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A man votes in Uganda during the 2021 elections. PHOTO/RACHEL MABALA

Ugandan citizens, aged 18 years and above are expected later this month to throng respective polling stations to update their voting particulars in readiness for the 2026 General Election.

Section 19(12) of the 1997 Electoral Commission (EC) Act requires that for anyone to exercise their voting right, they must be Ugandans of 18 years and above and fully registered as a voter.

The same law also says anyone on the voter’s register is eligible to contest for any elective post, nominate or second a candidate of his or her choice, or sign a supporters list during nominations and sign a petition to seek redress in the event of disputed election results.

EC is a government body mandated under Article 60 of the 1995 Constitution to organise public elections and referenda.

Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the EC spokesperson, said every voter must also have a national identification number (NIN) issued by the National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira).

Nira is a government body mandated to create, manage, maintain and operationalise the National Identification Register by registering all citizens of Uganda, and non-citizens who are lawfully resident in Uganda.

“For now, those are the available guidelines but the EC will release a detailed guideline on what else the person coming for the exercise must possess,” Mr Mucunguzi said.

The voter register update earlier planned for between January 3 and 20 was postponed and will now be conducted between January 20 and February 10.

EC, which is also mandated to compile, maintain, revise, and update the register, said the extension was made to allow people to enjoy the Christmas and New Year festivities.

More than 10,000 parish election officers are currently being recruited for the exercise.

Mr Mucunguzi said Ugandans who have never registered as voters, and students who were registered by Nira before clocking 18 years, would also use the window to enroll in the country’s voter list.

“Even voters who are already on the register will be coming to confirm their particulars and ensure those are their polling stations,” he said.

Mr Mucunguzi also said voters who changed their places of residence, their counterparts or changed names and status would also update those particulars.

During the last elections, EC registered 18.1 million voters at 34,684 polling stations across the country.

With the increment of the population and electoral areas, the EC projects the number of voters and polling stations to go up.

Mr Mucunguzi also said the decision to extend the commencement dates was reached after the previous years’ experiences when people did not show up immediately after the festive season.

“The Commission felt that the date that had been planned for the exercise was too close to the festivities. Based on the previous experiences, we felt a delay of two weeks and some days was better and people would have gotten out of the mood of celebrating to paying attention to updating their particulars on the register,” he said.

Mr Mucunguzi added: “Before the update will be a national stakeholders’ workshop, which should have taken place tomorrow (today) and getting people out of their celebrations to attend it would be hard..Plans are subject to adjustments and all those are factored into the planning of the roadmap.”

Roadmap

The EC spokesperson said the 2026 roadmap is flexible “enough to accommodate the adjustments that may arise but it is also specific enough to ensure those dates, which are anchored in the law are respected without fail”.

Mr Mucunguzi said another activity that must take place before the commencement of the register update is the training of the 13,000 parish and sub-county election officers whose recruitment is ongoing.

These will include 2,300 sub-county election officers and their 10,717 parish counterparts who will do the said update.

“Their recruitment by our officials at the district levels is going on smoothly. Shortlists were made, interviews undertaken and in the first week of January, the announcement of successful candidates will be made and then they will be trained before the commencement of the general update,” Mr Mucunguzi stated.

In his December 24, 2024, statement on extending the register update, EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama said the 8am to 6pm daily timeframe for the exercise remains unchanged.


Requirements

•Must be a Ugandan.

•Must be 18 years and above.

•Must possess a valid NIN.

•Must be living in Uganda.

•Must be able to go to the polling station. 

Steps

1. Get a valid National Identification Number.

2. Ensure you are 18 years and above.

3. Present the NIN to the election officer at the polling station between January 20 and February 10.

4. For first-time voters, record your particulars with the election officer.

5. For old voters, confirm your particulars with the election officer.

6. Those changing locations, names, etc. update with the election officer.

7. After this process wait for the display, which will be announced by the EC.

Source: Electoral Commission