EC issues final guidelines

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With the political climate heating up, the Electoral Commission (EC) has issued final guidelines for Today’s (Thursday, January 15, 2026) general election. While briefing election observers at Méstil Hotel in Kampala on Monday, January 12, the EC chairman, Justice Simon Byabakama, urged presiding officers not to declare votes placed in the wrong boxes as invalid.

He said voters will be issued with three ballot papers for President, Woman Member of Parliament (MP) and directly elected MP.

“Some of our people are illiterate. They may inadvertently find themselves dropping the Woman MP ballot paper in the box of a directly elected MP or vice versa. I don’t think it is invalid; it is only wrongly placed. So, don’t simply throw away this ballot paper because it is placed in the wrong box,” Byabakama said.

He stated that the boxes and the ballot papers for the three elective offices will be different at the polling station.

The EC boss also said they will deploy two biometric voter verification kits (BVVK) at each polling station, which will be operated by one officer.

He, however, said each polling station will have seven polling officials, including a police constable.

“In our planning, we are cognisant of the fact that a machine can develop any problems any time, and that is why we have provided two kits per polling station. They are not going to be used concurrently, but rather one would be on standby, just in the event that the one which is running develops issues or malfunctions,” he said.

He also stressed that their technical team of information technology (IT) officers will be at every sub-county to respond to any issues that might arise.

“We do not anticipate both kits to fail, but in the event that happens, we shall have our technical team at every sub-county to respond to issues concerning the functionality of kits in that sub-county,” he said.

Byabakama also noted that the batteries the kits take were manufactured to run for about 15-17 hours. “We also have power banks to back up these batteries in the event that they run low on power,” he said.

Ticking ballot papers

Byabakama also said a ballot paper should not be declared invalid simply because the voter did not put their mark in the designated place.

“We understand some presiding officers have been declaring these [ballot papers] invalid, yet the law is very clear. A vote is not invalid on account of the mark not being placed in the prescribed area or place,” the EC boss said.

“If the voter puts the mark or the thumbprint on the picture of the candidate or the symbol, or the name, the law says the intention of the voter can clearly be discerned that he or she intended to vote for this candidate,” he emphasised.

National ID

He also said that a voter will present his or her national ID or voter location slip when they arrive for voting, and if they do not have either, the presiding officer will help confirm their details on the hard copy of the national voters register.

After the presiding officer confirms the voter’s name, they will use the BVV machine to verify their identity by scanning their fingerprints or their face. After verification, the presiding officer will scan the ballot papers and issue them to the voter, who will then move on to elect their preferred candidates.

A voter will mark a candidate of their choice, for each elective position, using either a tick or thumbprint before folding the ballot paper as directed and inserting it into the ballot box for the respective elective position. The polling assistant will mark their finger to show that they have voted.

Campaigns end

According to the EC, holding campaign rallies officially ended on Tuesday, January 13 at 6:00pm, but the candidates could still mobilise voter support on radio or TV stations up to midnight (Tuesday, January 12).

The polling stations will open at 7:00am and close at 4:00pm.

The EC boss recently said after voting, the presiding officer will break the seal on the ballot box and pour its contents on the black polyethene bag (kaveera) laid on the ground in the presence of the agents of candidates.

“Before they count, each ballot paper will be scanned again with this [biometric voters verification] machine. Any ballot paper which will not be identified or recognised by this machine will be put aside,” he said.

He said woe betide anyone planning to go and do ballot stuffing.

“So, those of you who want to go and ballot stuff zibasanze [will be in trouble] because this [biometric] machine will identify ballot papers which have not been properly issued to the legitimate voter. It is only those which are verified as valid in that context that will be counted,” he said.

Vote protection

Byabakama again implored voters not to spend their time hanging around polling stations after voting.

“From experience we have seen that people who keep around the polling station when they have cast their votes for six or seven hours create an intimidating environment in some cases. We want to avoid all these kinds of scenarios. Some people are easily put off by any semblance of chaos or intimidation,” he said.

In any case, he said, some of the polling stations especially in some urban areas are in congested areas to the extent that even observing the 20-metre rule may not be realised.

“So, [we need to] safeguard the sanctity of the secret ballot, [avoid] unnecessary tensions and commotions at the polling station,” he said.

Disqualified candidates

Some election observers, such as Faridah Lule, the executive director of Ushahidi Foundation Uganda, raised the issue of denominated candidates appearing on the ballot paper, saying this will confuse voters. She said this would increase the number of invalid votes compared to the last election, where they had 400,000 invalids.

However, Byabakama said they will put up notices at every polling station indicating the disqualified candidates, and the presiding officers will also inform the voters before issuing them with the ballot papers.

The EC also announced a toll-free reporting hotline of 0800252700 for all citizens to use all over the country and the chargeable line of 0326809100.

New offence

Godfrey Musinguzi, the EC legal officer, said failure to use the BVVK is now an offence. He cited sections 12(2), (4) and (5) of the Electoral Commission Act, Cap. 176.

“A presiding officer who fails to use the BVVK in accordance with these regulations commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not sh120,000, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both,” he told New Vision.

Musinguzi also said a person convicted shall not qualify to be re-engaged or appointed in the service or commission.

Declaring results

Electoral Commission boss Justice Simon Byabakama said the envelopes containing election results of the various categories shall not be opened at the sub-county headquarters.

“I have heard some stakeholders say that the process of moving the results from the polling stations to the sub-county and then to the district in between there things begin to happen; there is nothing that happens,” he said.

“First of all, these results are sealed in tamper-proof envelopes, and if you attempt to open that envelope, you can’t reseal it, and if you deliver it to the returning officer in an open form, then those results are suspect,” the EC chairman said.

He stated that at the district or city, the results shall then be taken to the office of the district or city returning officer, who will tally and declare the results for the directly elected MP and District Woman MP. “The results of the presidential election from that district will be announced and then transmitted to the national tally centre at Lubowa, Wakiso district. The EC will tally all results from the districts or cities of Uganda and finally declare the elected candidate for President within 48 hours from closure of the polls,” Justice Byabakama said. He said the tallying of results will commence on Thursday after 4:00pm until Saturday before 4:00pm.