The Electoral Commission (EC) has announced fresh polling in 1,135 villages across Uganda after violence, destruction of election materials and disputes over voters’ registers disrupted the long-awaited Local Council I (LCI) elections held on Tuesday.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi said voting was successfully concluded in 70,079 of Uganda’s 71,214 villages, representing a 98.4 per cent completion rate.
However, polling failed to conclude in 1,135 villages due to incidents of violence, interference by residents, destruction of voters’ registers, disputes over village registers and complaints of missing names on the registers.
“Generally, residents turned up in large numbers and the electoral process was peaceful, orderly and transparent,” Byabakama said, while acknowledging that “some of the scenes witnessed during [Tuesday’s] LC1 elections were ugly.
He said the Commission had received reports that, in some villages, election officials allowed people whose names were missing from the voters’ registers to vote after presenting national identity cards. Byabakama clarified that the practice was not authorised by the Electoral Commission.
According to the Commission, some of the affected villages have already conducted repeat polls on Wednesday, while others will vote after outstanding disputes are resolved.
To address the disruptions, the Commission announced a series of measures for the affected villages. Byabakama said fresh voter registration will begin on Thursday, July 30, 2026, in villages where voters’ registers were destroyed during Tuesday’s violence. Polling in those villages will then be conducted on Saturday, August 1.
He added that villages where the registers remained intact despite disruptions will also hold repeat elections on Saturday, August 1.
The Commission also announced special arrangements for villages affected by the death of nominated candidates. Where the sole nominated candidate died before polling, fresh nominations will be conducted on Thursday, followed by voting on the same day.
In villages where one candidate died but other candidates remain in the race, polling will proceed with the remaining candidates. Byabakama said the Commission had already received numerous election petitions arising from the LCI polls and would handle them in accordance with the law. He did not disclose the number of complaints received.
He also revealed that the Commission had received reports suggesting that some election officials may have colluded with individuals to manipulate the outcome of the elections.
The allegations, he said, will be investigated as part of efforts to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process. Byabakama warned residents against engaging in violence during the remaining electoral activities and urged communities to allow the Commission to complete the exercise peacefully.
The LCI elections, the first to be conducted nationwide since 2018, attracted a high voter turnout as residents elected village chairpersons, the lowest elected leaders under Uganda’s local government system.
The elections were conducted using the queue-voting method, in which voters lined up behind their preferred candidates in accordance with the Local Governments Act.
Despite the disruptions reported in some areas, the Electoral Commission said the overall exercise demonstrated strong public participation and reaffirmed its commitment to completing the elections in all the affected villages.