The government is considering mandatory use of technology in elections

“Basically, there is coming a mandate to use biometric technology so that the electoral system can verify all voters and ensure that you are actually a registered voter before you cast your vote,” Dr. Baryomunsi said.

President Museveni, speaking at the end of the first Defense Expo organized in memory of the late former Minister of Interior and Army Commander, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, stated that NUP won one million more votes than in the 2021 poll.

Museveni also claimed that fraud was possible because the EC decided to continue voting even after biometric devices that were supposed to help verify and identify voters broke down.

The door to the use of technology at polling stations opened in July 2020, when the Electoral Commission Act was amended to allow the EC to use it in the management of polls.

In connection with the above, Art. 12 section 1 of the amended Act states that “the Commission, in exercising the powers arising from section. 1, may adopt technology in the field of election management.

Dr Baryomunsi says the problem is that the law leaves it to the European Commission to decide on the use of the technology.

“We used biometric technology to verify voters, but the current law states that the Electoral Commission can use biometric technology. That is why the president mentioned that the exercises continued after the machines broke down,” said Dr. Baryomunsi, adding that the current idea is to oblige the EC to use technology to manage elections, which would mean that in the event of technical faults, the vote would be suspended.

It was unclear whether the proposal to make use of the technology mandatory would be accompanied by other reforms, some of which have been ongoing for more than 25 years.

For example, on November 26, 2014, civil society organizations concluded a two-day national dialogue on free and fair elections and adopted the so-called “Uganda Citizens’ Agreement on Free and Fair Elections”.

The document contained a number of recommendations, including a proposal to create a new, independent and impartial EC.

“The selection of commissioners and staff must be made through an open application process, public hearings and review by the Judicial Service Commission. The selected candidates should be finally vetted by the Parliament and, after approval, presented to the President for nomination,” the agreement reads in part.

The agreement further proposed that commissioners would serve a single seven-year non-renewable term. She also recommended a complete overhaul of the EC and a review of all staff, including returning officials and presiding officers, adding that the selection of Secretariat staff must go through an open selection process and a publicly announced recruitment process.

Other proposals included in the agreement include the creation of a new, publicly accessible voter register; comprehensive and ongoing civic and electoral education programs; voting for LC3, LC5, Parliament and President on the same day to avoid influence peddling and patronage in electoral processes; prohibiting the military from participating in elections; and making the police solely responsible for the polls.

The agreement further proposed that the president relinquish tactical command and control of the armed forces to the joint chiefs and be barred from serving as chairman of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) high command.

The agreement radically proposed limiting and monitoring secret resources and appropriations for the president and the State House in the two years leading up to the general election to deter presidential patronage.

The agreement further proposed that public officials should resign from their positions at least six months before being nominated to run in the elections, and that persons nominated to run in the elections should hand over all their public assets before the start of the campaign.

The agreement also suggested that service commissions and parastatal organizations should have separate selection, approval and appointment processes to address the system and patronage networks.

Recommendations, proposals

The European Union (EU) sent observation missions during the 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections, each of which followed with a set of recommendations.

Among the suggestions put forward are the establishment of an inclusive and transparent mechanism for appointing and dismissing the EC; strengthening the integrity of the EC by engaging civil society in the selection process; creating a law regulating campaign spending; and the introduction of spending ceilings for individual parliamentary candidates.

The opposition has also put forward a number of reform proposals over the years, including eliminating the offices of vice president and prime minister; introducing the position of vice president, who will be a candidate for president; reducing the size of the cabinet to 21 ministers and ministers of state; and repealing the Public Order Management Act (POMA).

Like civil society, the Opposition proposed public recruitment of members of the Electoral Commission; removal of army representatives from parliament and; allowing registered voters to also challenge presidential poll results.

Previously, the government proposed that a person elected to parliament as an independent candidate could enter into an alliance with a political party or organization, which should not be understood as joining this organization.

Recently, Justice Byabakama Mugenyi, President of the European Commission, proposed that the government should reduce campaign spending. However, players operating in the country’s civic space remain skeptical about both the will and intentions of state actors.

“All proposals from civil society and all stakeholders are with Parliament and it requires a very selective approach as to which ones to accept and which not to. So it is now Parliament’s job to adopt and adopt them. There are no new proposals that you can bring forward,” Dr Livingstone Ssewanyana, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), told Saturday Monitor.

Chris Obore, Parliament’s director of communications and public affairs, said it was not the role of the House to initiate constitutional amendments or electoral reforms. He added: “The reforms of the electoral system are an initiative of the executive branch of the government.”

It is unclear whether the government will now take up any of the reforms proposed by everyone else, but Mr Ssewanyana’s conclusion is an indictment of both parliament and government of neglecting electoral reforms.

However, Dr. Baryomunsi defended the government, accusing the political opposition of doing nothing to accelerate the reform process.

“You have (opposition) parliamentarians. If the government delays, the MP can present the proposal on the floor. I didn’t see anyone bring it. Our opposition colleagues are just making noise on the radio, but I have not seen them drafting a private members bill on this,” Dr Baryomunsi told Saturday Monitor.

On Tuesday, Mathias Mpuuga, the former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), issued a notice revealing plans to table a Private Members’ Bill containing details of proposed reforms to the electoral system.

Mpuuga, who is also a Nyendo-Mukungwe lawmaker, said he was forced to consider such action due to the government’s failure to implement its mandate on time.

“Waiting for the Deputy Attorney General’s commitment to present wide-ranging constitutional reforms, some of which touch on the main issue of the elections, the Electoral Commission continued to implement its programs and the action schedule was planned,” he added. Mpuuga noted, adding: “We have just 12 months to start electoral activities. I met parties, including the ruling party, that announced their own action plans. Are we just comfortable? Are we really committed?”

Thomas Tayebwa, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives who chaired Tuesday’s plenary session, asked Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao to “come and give us an update on the electoral reforms.” Minister Mao was absent this working week for official reasons and attended the UN General Assembly in New York.

“The Minister of Justice should come and inform us about the issues of reforming the electoral system. When will (the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs) present the reform of the electoral system?” – asked the Deputy Speaker of the House, adding: “We will be stamped at the last minute and remember that (the court) raised this issue and the Electoral Commission itself several times. I saw the head (i.e. chairman) of the Electoral Commission saying that reforms come late.”

According to the revised summary timetable for the 20225/2026 general elections published by the EC at the end of July, officials intending to run for political office are expected to resign between June 13 and October 1, 2025. The nomination of candidates in the general elections has been marked in pencil between September 16 to 17, 2025. Nomination of candidates for the Presidential elections will take place on October 2–3, 2025. The election period for the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government Councils will last from January 12 to February 9, 2026.