The Electoral Commission (EC) partnered with the United States government, through the United States Agency for International Development, to post Uganda’s entire voter register online in a searchable and secure format. The online system will make the vote registrar more transparent and accessible by allowing individual voters to verify their registration status and polling stations via the internet.
The EC launched the online voters register on August 26 at Hotel Africana to ensure easy access and verification of voters’ names countrywide. The Deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi presided over the launch.
The United States Ambassador Jerry Lanier said peaceful free and fair elections in 2011 are critical for Uganda’s future. He said the launch of the online register is a step towards realising this goal.
“In addition to rendering the voter registry more transparent and accessible, posting this document online should boost voter confidence in Uganda’s electoral processes, improve the effectiveness voter registration display process now underway, reduce confusion over polling assignments and registration status on election day, and reinforce the foundations necessary for free and fair elections,†he said.
The online register will also benefit people from the rural areas who have a difficulty accessing the internet. The U.S. government, the Electoral Commission, and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) are also working to develop an SMS messaging system that will allow any voter with a cell phone to verify his or her voter registration status and polling station. The voters will have to send their details to a given number that has not yet been communicated and they will get a confirmation whether their names appear on the list. This SMS text messaging system will be fully operational soon.  This activity is part of the USA’s ongoing support to democracy and governance in Uganda and was supported through a $600,000 USAID grant to IFES.
The Chairman of the Electoral Commission Eng. Badru Kiggundu appealed to all supporting partners to continue cooperating with the EC to ensure sustainable democratisation progress in Uganda. “If all Ugandan voters participate in ensuring a credible voters’ register, it will be a cornerstone to the integrity of all coming elections in Uganda,†Kiggundu said.
He advised voters to check their names at their respective polling stations to ensure they are not wrongly recommended for deletion. After the display of the voters register on August 31, all the dead, people below 18 years, neither residing nor originating from the parish or whose names appear more than once will have their names displayed at the parish from September 3-13.
He called upon the people to check the lists to ensure their names are there. He cautioned that some people with ill motives might lobby for other people’s names to be scrapped off the register but this can be solved if they keep checking with their polling stations to ensure it does not happen.
The opposition was happy with the launch and hailed it as a great step towards answering their concerns. They had denounced the EC register saying they do not trust the commission to make an accurate register. They applauded the move but said they still had some issues they would want to be addressed such as the absence of pictures on the online register.
Wafula Oguttu, the FDC Secretary for Information and Publicity, said the launch would have been more realistic if it had been done a few weeks back.
Asuman Basalirwa, the JEEMA party president, lauded the move as the right direction and said it showed the opposition’s efforts have born fruits.
The opposition have been demanding the dissolution of the current Electoral Commission on account that it is partisan and favour President Museveni who appointed the commissioners. They have been holding various public demonstrations which have been violently broken up by the police.
Basalirwa said the EC failed to involve all the parties in the process leading to the launch of the online register like it was done in Malawi. He said the opposition was only called upon to witness the launch. He said the opposition should have been involved in the process and asked to give their views. HE said such involvement would have helped in countering arising issues like the missing voters’ pictures on the register.
“All we have to do is support it and call upon the masses to embrace it and ensure all people’s names are there,†said Basalirwa.
Hussein Kyanjo, the JEEMA flag bearer hailed the online register but said he would sue the EC for creating more villages and polling stations in his constituency without informing the people. He said over 100 villages have been affected. He said he had approached the EC but it was adamant about his complaints. He said people in his constituency do not know which villages they are going to vote from.
Salaam Musumba, the Deputy President of FDC, expressed gratitude that the parties have been able to achieve something, but said it would have been better with a new EC. “I would have been happy if I were looking at new faces,†she said.
Abed Bwanika, the president of People’s Democratic Party, joined other opposition officials to welcome the online voters’ register.Â
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