By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) last week launched the 2021 elections report in Kampala which pointed out that there were incidents of voter bribery, intimidation, ballot stuffing and violence among other irregularities at different polling stations.
Miria Matembe, the CCEDU board chairperson, said 2021 presidential, parliamentary, and election of the Speaker of the 11th Parliament was a shame to democracy and Ugandans at large adding that the executive arm of government took over the entire electoral process and dictated who should be voted for which position.
“The institution of the executive took over the Legislature during the election of 11th Parliament Speaker. The last elections were an example of the executive taking over affairs of elections in Uganda,” she said.
Matembe noted that names of candidates were mixed up on ballot papers and that political party agents were insufficiently deployed, plus insufficient civic education.
“The electoral process fell short of International Standards for democratic elections,” she added.
The coordinator of CCEDU, Charity Ahimbisibwe cited low voter turnout during the just concluded elections as evidence that many people did not have confidence in the entire electoral process.
“In addition, there was a disparity between the numbers of males and females elected during the 2021 elections. Male candidates’ numbers were abnormally higher than their female counterparts for all elective positions,” she said.
She cited the violence meted out against journalists by security personnel, during the visit by National Unity Platform (NUP) president, Robert Kyagulanyi, to the UN Human Rights Offices, in Kampala as evidence of a gross violation of human rights.
The report further exposed 120 polling stations that had one hundred percent voters turn up all voting for one candidate which they say is impossible to have registered no deaths after five years or nobody fell sick on the election day.
CCEDU members recommended for advance training of election officials by the Electoral Commission (EC), to avoid election irregularities in the future.
CCEDU also called for security personnel to distance themselves from electoral processes and called upon the electorate to stop taking financial and other material handouts, in exchange for votes.
Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU) is a broad coalition that brings together over 800 like-minded civil society organizations and over eight thousand individuals to advocate for electoral democracy in Uganda.
The overriding agenda of this coalition is to advocate and promote integrity, transparency and active citizen participation in Uganda’s
electoral process.
