{"id":21197,"date":"2021-11-14T12:54:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T12:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=21197"},"modified":"2021-11-14T12:49:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T12:49:43","slug":"govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms","title":{"rendered":"Govt should act on\u00a0 all electoral reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Thursday\u2019s announcement by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Justice Simon Byabakama, that Ugandans in the diaspora and prisoners will be able to vote in the 2026 general election came as sweet music to the ears.<\/p>\n

However, as the EC goes about addressing itself to questions around whether campaigns will go on in the prisons and how the vote counting will be managed in such restricted facilities, it should be moving to ensure that Uganda sees major electoral reforms aimed at improving future elections.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue the EC and the government need to address themselves to is the credibility of our electoral processes. All elections held since 1996 have ended in controversy. The NRM is always accused of cheating its way to victory.<\/p>\n

In 1996, Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere declared that he would not \u201caccept the result as valid\u201d. He cited rigging, intimidation of voters and use of doctored voters\u2019 registers.<\/p>\n

In 2001 judges agreed that there was cheating, but that it did \u201cnot affect the result of the elections in a substantial manner\u201d. In 2006, they concluded that the \u201cprinciples of equal suffrage, transparency of the votes, and secrecy of the ballot were undermined by multiple voting and vote stuffing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The walk-to-work protests that came in the wake of the 2011 polls suggested dissatisfaction with the outcome. The 2016 and the 2011 polls\u2019 results were also contested.<\/p>\n

The biggest source of contention has always been government\u2019s failure to initiate reforms that would improve the electoral framework.<\/p>\n

In March 2020, Parliament passed laws such as the Presidential Elections, Parliamentary Elections, Electoral Commissions and Political Parties and Organisations Amendment Bills, 2019, but the Bills skirted the elephant in the room – the appointment of the EC.<\/p>\n

The argument has always been that the EC cannot declare a result other than a win for the NRM because it is Mr Museveni who appoints it.<\/p>\n

It, therefore, follows that credibility of elections organised by an EC that is constituted the way it is will always be in doubt. That can only be fixed by taking up the recommendation of the Opposition that the formation of the EC be made more competitive with civil society and the public playing a part in the selection of commissioners.<\/p>\n

The EC and government also need to address themselves to long pending proposals like introduction of proportional representation; waiving of the requirement for civil servants to resign before nominations and; introduction of bans from elective politics for those found guilty of offences such as bribery.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Thursday\u2019s announcement by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Justice Simon Byabakama, that Ugandans in the diaspora and prisoners will be able to vote in the 2026 general election came as sweet music to the ears. However, as the EC goes about addressing itself to questions around whether campaigns will go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":21196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-21197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nGovt should act on\u00a0 all electoral reforms - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thursday\u2019s announcement by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Justice Simon Byabakama, that Ugandans in t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt should act on\u00a0 all electoral reforms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thursday\u2019s announcement by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Justice Simon Byabakama, that Ugandans in t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-14T12:54:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/11\/img-619105d15e5a5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt should act on\u00a0 all electoral reforms\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-14T12:54:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/11\/img-619105d15e5a5.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-should-act-on-all-electoral-reforms\",\"name\":\"Govt should act on\u00a0 all electoral reforms - 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