NRM to hold another round of barazas ahead of LC polls
"The Electoral Commission came out with a roadmap which gives us the 23rd of this month as the date for electing the women's council at village level and the 28th of this month we shall be electing the LC1 chairpersons in each and every village of Uganda," Todwong said.
Todwong expressed confidence that the NRM would perform strongly, citing the party’s nationwide grassroots structures.
KAMPALA - The National Resistance Movement (NRM) will hold village barazas across the country on July 22, 2026, as part of its final mobilisation drive ahead of the Women Council and Local Council I (LC1) elections.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the Village Women Council elections for July 23 and the LC1 elections for July 28, this year, prompting the ruling party to intensify grassroots campaigns, which it says are aimed at securing victory and strengthening local governance.
Speaking to a select group of journalists at the NRM headquarters on Plot 10 Kyadondo Road in Kampala on July 14, 2026, the party’s secretary general, Richard Todwong, said the NRM had completed its internal preparations, including identifying, validating and endorsing candidates across the country.
"The Electoral Commission came out with a roadmap which gives us the 23rd of this month as the date for electing the women's council at village level and the 28th of this month we shall be electing the LC1 chairpersons in each and every village of Uganda," Todwong said.
Todwong said information generated at village level feeds into planning and policy implementation through parish, sub-county and district administrative structures.
"We had already elected our flag bearers for LC1 chairpersons. We did a Baraza to validate the gaps that were there and thereafter endorsed our members by stamping their nomination forms to enable them to be nominated by the Electoral Commission," he said.
According to the Electoral Commission roadmap, the display of the voters’ register has been completed, while nomination of candidates will take place between July 16 and July 19.
Todwong said the party will return to the villages on July 22 to hold another round of barazas aimed at mobilising support for its Women Council candidates ahead of polling.
He described the LC1 office as the foundation of Uganda’s decentralised governance system, arguing that village leaders serve as the first point of contact between citizens and government.
Todwong said information generated at village level feeds into planning and policy implementation through parish, sub-county and district administrative structures.
"The village leader is a very important person because he or she provides the tools and the ingredients that the government uses to come up with the policies that we need for governance," he noted.
Under the electoral process, voters will first elect five office bearers at the village level during the Women Council elections. Those elected will subsequently form electoral colleges at the parish, sub-county and district levels before choosing the national leadership.
Todwong expressed confidence that the NRM would perform strongly, citing the party’s nationwide grassroots structures.
"There is no party in Uganda with the structures that we have. In each and every village we have 30 elected leaders of the party," he said, adding that the ruling party has candidates in virtually every village across the country.
He added that the NRM’s membership register, compiled during its internal elections, had enabled the party to prepare early by cross-checking members against the Electoral Commission’s voters’ register.