Ex-presidential candidate Nandala says party reviewing election outcome

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Former presidential candidate James Nathan Nandala Mafabi has urged his supporters to remain calm and peaceful as the party reviews the outcome of the recently concluded General Election. Mafabi emerged third in a race that involved eight candidates, including incumbent Yoweri Museveni.

Speaking to New Vision Online, Nandala says his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party will soon announce its next course of action after analysing what he describes as a deeply flawed electoral process.

“I ask our people to remain calm and peaceful as we study the situation and decide on the next steps,” Nandala told New Vision Online in a phone interview on January 18, a day after the Electoral Commission (EC) announced the final results from the presidential election. 

The results indicate that Museveni won the elections with 7,946,772 votes, constituting 71.65% of the total votes cast, according to the official results released by the Electoral Commission. His chief rival, Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, garnered 2,741,238 (24.72%) in the race. In third place was Nathan Nandala Mafabi of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), who scored 108,301 votes (1.88%), George Mugisha Muntu of Alliance for National Transformation garnered 59,276 votes (0.53%), Frank Bulira of Revolutionary Peoples’ Party secured 45,959 votes (0.41%), Robert Kasibante of National Peasants Party got 33,440 votes (0.3%), Mubarak Munyagwa of Common Man’s Party obtained 31,666 votes (0.29%), while Joseph Mabirizi of the Conservative Party garnered 23,458 votes (0.21%).

Flawed electoral process?

Mafabi criticised the entire electoral process, beginning with the campaigns, which he claimed were characterised by widespread voter bribery. Nandala alleged that the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) distributed shillings two million to each village under the guise of facilitating transport, lunch and assistance for the elderly, an act he described as deliberate voter bribery. 

“Beginning with the campaigns, President Museveni and the NRM gave about shillings two million to each village, supposedly for transport, lunch and the elderly. In reality, this was voter bribery,” he said.

However, New Vision Online could not independently verify the claims.

Voter verification machines

Nandala further faulted EC over the failure of biometric voter verification (BVV) machines on polling day (January 15), arguing that the breakdown was intentional and aimed at enabling vote rigging.

“As a country, we spent a lot of money on these machines. Who is to blame for their failure? Why were they not adequately tested without the internet? They knew it would be hard to manipulate results using BVV machines, which is why they resorted to manual registers. This was a planned move; the machines did not just fail on election day,” he said.

However, it should be noted that EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama attributed the widespread failure of Biometric Voter Verification Kits (BVVK) to technical challenges. However, he said the machines' failure should not disfranchise Ugandans of their constitutional right to vote.

Speaking amid growing concern from political actors, civil society and voters across the country, Justice Byabakama acknowledged that the biometric voter verification kits failed to function in many polling stations, despite earlier assurances that the machines would be fully operational on polling day.

Asked whether his supporters missed voting due to the use of manual registers, Nandala maintained that the failure of the biometric system alone was enough to invalidate the election.

“When the systems that were supposed to be used fail, the integrity of the entire election is compromised,” he said, blaming EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama for presiding over what he termed an unfair election. 

He further alleged that in some polling stations, ballots had been pre-ticked even before voting began.

“The manual register was used to facilitate smooth vote rigging, and that is shameful. However, we urge our supporters not to engage in violence or chaos,” he said. Still, New Vision Online could not independently verify these claims.

On the party’s poor performance in parliamentary elections, where FDC won only nine seats compared to more than 30 in the 2021–2025 Parliament, Nandala claimed many of the party’s flag-bearers were cheated.“Our candidates were rigged out. For instance, Ebwaru in Soroti was leading by over 600 votes and was about to be declared the winner, but during tallying, votes from three polling stations already gazetted by the EC were mysteriously added, changing the outcome,” he said.

Nandala also accused the EC of releasing the voters’ register late, denying candidates adequate time to prepare.