Slow start to EC voters’ register display exercise
Electoral Commission officials interact with youth at Kamwokya Market shortly after the official launch of the update of the National Voters Register for the 2026 General Elections on January 20. PHOTO | DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The EC also released key statistics, with the increase in administrative units and electoral areas.
There was a general slow start to the exercise of displaying the National Voters’ Register that kicked off last Friday. In most of the polling stations we visited on the first day around Kampala, Electoral Commission (EC) officials were either waiting for voters to verify their particulars or deserted without anyone tending to them. Several officials expressed optimism, saying the slow turnout could have been because they wanted to come on other non-busy days.
“We are waiting for them but maybe they will come on Monday [today] and since it’s the first day, the turn-up was expected to be this slow,” an official who didn’t want to be mentioned in this story because he is not authorised to speak to the media, said in an interview.
Justice Simon Byabakama, the EC chairman, said the exercise will give opportunity to voters to correct their names, photographs, and any other changes. It also helps to identify the dead to be removed, people under the voting age of 18 years, if they may appear, those who have shifted or don't belong in the parish, and voters who may appear more than once.
“It will also help us harmonise with the lists of citizens of voting age who were verified and registered by NIRA (National Registration Identification Authority) but did not indicate their preferred polling stations, so they can verify their particulars and be added to the registers,” Justice Byabakama said.
Last Friday, the EC released key statistics, with the increase in administrative units and electoral areas in the country as one of the main milestones in the electoral body's strategic plan. EC officials said the increase has come after the long process of organising electoral areas and administrative units, which lasted over a year as they created new polling stations, districts, sub-counties, counties, and villages. The new figures released by the EC at their head office at 7th Street of Industrial Area showed an increase in the number of districts and cities from 135 as of the 2021 elections to 146.
The new number, however, does not include the three districts and one city that President Museveni approved for creation out of Tororo District. “We have not been formally informed about this creation from the relevant authorities, and that means we are going with the figure that we found on the ground while we were in the process of demarcating electoral areas,” Justice Byabakama said.
Data also showed an increase in the number of counties, leapfrogging from 257 as of the 2020/2021 statistics to 312 after the creation of 55 new counties countrywide. The EC also created 57 more constituencies, as the total number increased from 296 to 353 by 2025.
In 2020, there were 2,062 sub-counties in the country and the EC now found that there are 2191, while the number of parishes rose from 10,029 as of 2020 to 10,716, an increase of 687 new areas. The number of villages also increased by 2,475 across the country to 71,208 as of 2025 from 68, 733 in 2020.
The polling stations also rose to 38, 315 in 2025 from 34, 344 in 2020. These new statistics, according to EC officials, sit well with their projections that were included in the strategic plan that was released about two years ago, detailing the general roadmap towards the 2026 elections.
Other increments
Statistics from the EC documents showed that the number of electoral areas increased from 13,997 in 2006 to 45,965 in 2021, and the number of elective positions also increased from 750,568 in 2006 to 1,612,295 in 2021. New figures show an increase in the number of the electoral areas as projected in the strategic plan from 1.6m to more than two million.
“What I can say is that Uganda Electoral Commission has undergone a revolution of technological advancements in systems to achieve result contentment in executing free and fair elections in the country. The push for continuous improvement in technology is a result of the complexity of data management as more and more people get involved in the electoral activities,” Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the EC spokesperson, said in an interview for this story, explaining the rising numbers of electoral areas.
The EC released the new statistics as they announced the kick-off of the protracted display of the national voters’ register at all polling stations after they pushed the programme by a week, citing normal preparation measures.
Officials, however, said due to unavoidable circumstances, some 620 polling stations, which represent about 1.6 percent of the total number of polling stations from different districts across the country would not be able to view their particulars on the national voters’ register as of last Friday, and that a later date would be communicated.
“Technical issues that emerged during the production of the segregated data voter registers were not printed together with the others, and I would like to inform Ugandans that these polling stations were not deliberately left out, it was a glitch, and it is being sorted out,” Justice Byabakama.
The districts that missed out on the viewing of the national voters’ register as the exercise kicked off last Friday include: Arua City with two polling stations, Buikwe with one, and Buvuma also with one. ort Portal has three polling stations with missing registers, Kampala has 18, Kasanda has two, and Kikuube has 15. The other districts are: Kiryandongo with 78 polling stations with missing registers, Kitagwenda one, Masaka city two, Mbarara city 48, and Mityana, which has 378, the highest number of polling stations with missing registers, while Mpigi has 46, Mukono 32, and Wakiso 13.
Justice Byabakama said: “When their issue is fixed, the people in these districts will also be given the mandatory 21 days as provided for by the Electoral Commission's Act, to check their particulars in the register and make the necessary changes if any.”
According to the Electoral Commission’s Act, persons who are recommended for inclusion or exclusion from the National Voters’ Register have a supplementary register display at the district tribunal for 10 days, and it is scheduled to take place between May 17 and May 27, 2025. This would help people to amend what could have been misrepresented during the general voter verification exercise.
The tribunal is constituted by a judge, two elders, and three other members who can be recommended by political parties. Mr Mucunguzi said: “There will be a final mop-up of the national voters’ register after all this exercise is done by the EC when the findings are sent to the headquarters. That is when a final figure of the number of registered voters will be announced ahead of the coming elections.
