The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) chairperson, Ms Mariam Wangadya, has urged candidates dissatisfied with the January 15 general elections to seek legal redress through the courts, saying the technical and procedural shortcomings observed on polling day did not fundamentally undermine the overall fairness of the vote.
Releasing the Commission’s preliminary election observation report on Sunday in Kampala, Ms Wangadya acknowledged delays and challenges but said they were not severe enough to invalidate the elections.
‘If anyone feels aggrieved by the results, the law provides a clear avenue-the court. Recommendations are not orders, but the Constitution provides remedies where a person feels their rights were affected,’ Ms Wangadya said.
She emphasised that the Commission would question the integrity of elections only if voters were deliberately denied the right to vote.
‘Had we seen voters being denied their right to vote, I would have said this affected the election’s fairness. But every registered voter who turned up was able to vote. Failures of biometric kits were technical, and procedural issues do not go to the fundamental issue of the freeness or fairness of an election,’ she said.
Ms Wangadya noted that delays in voting in some areas-particularly Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono, where polling materials arrived as late as 10am-were addressed by extending polling hours, although some presiding officers did not receive the directive in time.
According to the report, biometric voter verification kits functioned effectively in a limited number of polling stations, including parts of Kyankwanzi, Buliisa, Napak, Bunyangabu, Karenga, Kaabong, Nakapiripirit, Moroto, and Rwentojo Ward in Mbarara District.
In areas such as Yumbe and Wakiso, the kits were not delivered at all, forcing election officials to revert to the manual voters’ register. Ms Wangadya said the UHRC deployed 121 observers drawn from its staff to 990 polling stations across 78 districts, operating through 12 regional offices, including Kampala, Gulu, Arua, Hoima, Jinja, Masaka, and Mbarara.