Before the January 15 elections, several stakeholders took to various public media forums to encourage Ugandans to participate in the elections by making use of their civic right.
Messages about how citizens should make their votes count were broadcast, how those who don’t vote have no right to complain about social services and governance in the country, etc. A lot of meaningful messages were relayed, especially targeting young voters, and this last-minute attempt at civic education seemed to fall on fertile ground.
Unfortunately, from the numbers on voter turnout, it is quite clear that many voters stayed away or went to polling stations but left without casting their votes. According to the Electoral Commission, only 11,366,201 voters (52.50 per cent of registered voters), participated in the elections. This is the lowest turnout since the introduction of multi-party elections under the 1995 Constitution. While messages encouraging Ugandans to vote were key, they alone cannot cure low voter turnout. Everything else and all stakeholders need to be in tandem. The environment must be seen to be conducive for voters to get out of their homes and vote.
Aside from the delay in the arrival of voting materials and the malfunctioning Biometric Voter Verification Kits that disrupted voting, directives for voters to leave polling stations immediately after voting affected the turnout. Election observers from the African Union, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, pointed out that statements by Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba directing voters to leave polling stations immediately after voting contradicted electoral laws and had a chilling effect on voter participation.
Therefore, while civic education is great, the effort that it is meant to achieve can quickly be undermined. Security forces play a key role in ensuring the elections go smoothly but care must be taken to ensure that the effort that civic education is meant to achieve is not undermined. Away from the less than conducive environment on the January 15 elections, delays, and low voter turnout also marred the Special Interest Groups elections covering youth, women, older persons and persons with disabilities.
For instance, the Entebbe Municipal Council elections for youth representatives were delayed for more than three hours despite EC officials arriving on time and setting up the polling area early in the morning. Confusion among Electoral College members over procedures was a challenge. This brings us right back to adequate civic education. May the mishaps and shortfalls of this year’s elections not be wasted but turned into lessons to be to enable us do better in future.