Uganda is preparing for another general election, but the numbers tell a troubling story. Each successive electoral cycle costs substantially more, yet fewer citizens are showing up to cast their ballots.
The paradox has sparked debate across civil society, academia, and ordinary households: who pays for our vote, and are we getting value for money? The Electoral Commission (EC) has requested a Shs502 billion subvention for the Financial Year 2025/2026.
Officials say the money will cover splitting and gazetting polling stations, acquiring biometric voter verification kits (BVVK), publishing polling station details, and other logistical necessities.
Election budgets have ballooned steadily over the past two decades. In 2006, the EC spent just over Shs200b to administer the polls. By 2016, the figure had more than doubled. The 2021 elections cost an estimated Shs600b when campaign spending and security operations were factored in.
Now, as the country gears up for 2026, the official budget request alone is staggering-and that’s before accounting for campaign expenditures by political parties, security deployments. Officials attribute the increases to several factors, including a growing number of administrative units.
They also attribute it to the rising fuel and transport costs, increased allowances for polling staff, inflation driving up the price of materials and logistics. The EC argues that these costs are unavoidable if Uganda is to maintain credibility in its electoral process.
‘Democracy is not cheap,’ a senior staff at EC, who requested anonymity, said.
‘We must invest in systems that guarantee transparency and accessibility.’
Low voter turnout
Despite these investments, voter turnout has stagnated or declined. Millions register to vote, but a growing share stays home on Election Day. In 2006, turnout hovered around 70 percent.
By 2016, it had dropped to 67 percent. In 2021, official figures suggested turnout was closer to 59 percent, with independent observers saying the real figure may have been lower.
‘People are tired,’ Mr William Bogere, an elder, reflects on why so many Ugandans are staying away from the polls.
‘There is disillusionment and apathy because many feel their vote does not change outcomes. There is distrust in institutions, with allegations of irregularities and unfairness eroding confidence. For ordinary families, socio-economic pressures mean daily survival takes precedence over political participation. And without sustained civic education, enthusiasm for voting simply fades away.’
Mr Abdullah Magambo, the deputy speaker of Mbale City Council, notes that despite significant investments in technology, voters remain sceptical about whether the Shs502b subvention will truly improve the credibility of elections or simply amount to an expensive show.
‘There must be adequate civic education for operators and users,’ he cautioned about BVVK.
‘Otherwise, the machines could slow down the voting process and even open the door to malpractice.’
Dr Paddy Mugambe, the dean of the School of Business and Management at the Uganda Management Institute (UMI), said: ‘This is largely driven by politics in the country. We see the creation of new electoral polling stations, the subdivision of existing electoral areas, and the establishment of new districts and constituencies. In principle, the number of voters, polling stations, and the actual population have been increasing over time, and these drive administrative costs upwards.’
He noted that repeated attempts to adopt technology in subsequent elections have added further expense, but with little to show for it. ‘Another component that has increased costs is the integration of the security apparatus into the election process. Security is expensive because it is largely manual in the country.’
On the question of whether Uganda is getting value for its growing electoral investment, Dr Mugambe was cautious.
‘This is a political question and can be answered in different ways depending on the person responding,’ he observed, adding: ‘From a public administration perspective, democracy is costly but necessary.’
oter fatigue
Beyond finances, he pointed to deeper social concerns.
‘This is largely due to voter fatigue associated with the election process. Voters have lost confidence and trust in the process. Additionally, there are increased levels of violence and intimidation that motivate ‘neutral’ voters to keep away.’
The implications, he warned, are serious. ‘Less civil engagement and a loss of nationalism may lead to radicalisation of sections of the population,’ Dr Mugambe said.
The Executive Director of the Alliance for Finance Monitoring (ACFIM), Mr Henry Muguzi, said the reason Uganda’s election costs continue to rise can be attributed to a number of factors.
‘This means an increase in the number of voters warrants the creation of more polling stations to match the mandatory quota of voters per station. With the creation of more polling stations comes the increase in required numbers of polling officers to be recruited, trained, and facilitated. My advice is that there should be a paradigm shift where polling officers are volunteers rather than people seeking employment and financial rewards,’ he said.
He noted that the EC’s embrace of technology, particularly BVVMs, has also driven costs upward.
‘These machines are expensive and hence a key driver of the cost of elections on the taxpayer.’
Beyond finances, Mr Muguzi highlighted a deeper crisis of trust.
‘Across the world, more and more people are losing trust in elections as they increasingly turn out to be façades. The monetisation of elections means results cease to be an expression of the will of the people and instead reflect the power of money. Voters feel their vote will not count, and they lose the motivation to turn out and cast their ballot.’
He added that electoral violence, often ‘turbocharged by the excesses of security operatives, whose role in elections remains undefined’, further discourages participation. For Mr Muguzi, the solution lies in reframing democracy as a long-term process. Democracy, he says, is ‘not a destination but a journey that nations have to walk.’
Expensive process
Recent data shows a sharp upward trend in the cost of conducting general elections. The EC’s own reports indicate that while just Shs18.1b was spent in 1996, the cost rose to Shs33.8b in 2001, then Shs67b in the 2006 polls.
By 2011, the bill had jumped to Shs299.5b; in 2016 it grew further to Shs476.6b; and for the 2021 general elections, the cost stood at Shs698.7b. For the 2021 elections, the EC had budgeted about Shs868b to cover the core electoral processes, including voter registration, polling stations, printing ballot papers, and logistics.
By the EC’s estimate, the proposed budget for the upcoming 2026 General Election is around Shs838-839 billion.
Underlying the rising cost is a more complicated expansion: from 112 districts in 2016 to 146 (and growing) by 2021; from some 28,000 polling stations to over 34,000; and a rising number of registered voters, from roughly 15.3 million in 2016 to more than 18.1 million by 2021.
‘The creation of new administrative units during every electoral cycle significantly drives up costs. Each new unit requires additional positions such as returning officers and polling agents, alongside the establishment of new polling stations,’ Mr Marlon Agaba, the Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda (ACCU), said.
Mr Agaba contrasted Uganda’s situation with that of neighbouring countries. He pointed out that Rwanda’s elections are comparatively cheaper, while Tanzania’s recent election cost approximately Shs1.4 trillion and Kenya’s exceeded Shs1.5 trillion.
Despite Kenya and Tanzania having larger populations, Uganda’s elections are projected to be more expensive. Mr Yusuf Makweta, an election observer and human rights activist, noted that Uganda’s Parliament has expanded significantly over time, with the number of lawmakers rising from about 300 in earlier years to more than 500 in 2021.
This expansion, he said, has contributed to the rising costs of elections. Not to mention attempts to make the voting process credible.
‘To address these concerns, the Commission has introduced innovations such as voter verification machines. In the last election, each polling station had one machine, but frequent breakdowns and network problems fuelled suspicions of manipulation. For the upcoming election, the Commission has provided two machines per polling station to ensure continuity if one fails. While this measure may improve reliability, it has also increased the overall cost of elections,’ Mr Makweta said.
Mr Makweta expressed concern that citizen participation in the electoral process has been declining. He attributed this partly to fear and insecurity ahead of the general election.
Mr Agaba attributed poor voter participation to limited voter education, stressing that there is virtually no ongoing voter education in Uganda. Without adequate information, many citizens remain disengaged from the electoral process.
EC response
What stands out: after peaking at over 70 percent turnouts in the early 2000s, participation dropped sharply in 2011, had a small rebound in 2016, but remained subdued in 2021-even as budgets and spending surged dramatically.
Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the EC spokesperson, defended the rising expenditure on Uganda’s general elections, emphasising that the cost drivers are well known and consistent across electoral cycles.
He explained that since 1996, the factors influencing election costs have steadily increased, making each subsequent election more expensive than the last.
The key cost drivers, he said, include: voter population-Uganda has never held a general election where the number of registered voters decreased; polling stations-the number of polling stations has consistently grown to accommodate the expanding electorate; EC staff-staffing requirements have also risen, with no election cycle recording a reduction in personnel.
Mr Mucunguzi stressed that the cost of elections is directly dependent on these drivers, and as the numbers continue to rise, so too does the budget.
He concluded that it is, therefore, unsurprising that the upcoming general election will be more expensive than previous ones, given the steady upward trend in voter numbers, polling stations, and staffing needs.