The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Polling at Limu Medical Flats Polling Station (OI-LZ) in Laroo-Pece Division, Gulu City, was thrown into chaos on Thursday morning after voters protested the use of transparent plastic buckets instead of the official transparent ballot boxes.
The standoff began at about 6:30 a.m. when Electoral Commission (EC) officials delivered voting materials that included three transparent ballot boxes without lead covers. Voters who had assembled early in anticipation of the 7:00 a.m. start questioned how ballot papers would be secured without the covers.
Tensions escalated hours later when EC officials returned with three transparent buckets purchased locally as a temporary substitute.
The buckets, commonly used for selling goods, were delivered at around 10:00 a.m., further angering already frustrated voters. Some residents demanded the suspension of voting at the station, arguing that the integrity of the process had been compromised.
“It is very strange that the Electoral Commission can bring a transparent bucket instead of a proper ballot box,” said Ocan.
Geoffrey Okello, the Local Council I chairperson for Limu Medical Flats, told Uganda Radio Network that the problems went beyond the missing ballot box covers. He said the polling station was also delivered without basins for voters to use while marking their ballots.
Okello said they had to borrow six basins from the community to help the process move and questioned the EC’s level of preparedness.
“It is abnormal because the Electoral Commission budgets for elections, yet voters are inconvenienced like this.” He said.
Okello, with the help of security, later intervened to calm tensions and persuaded voters and candidates’ agents, many of whom had threatened to boycott the exercise, to remain and participate in the election.
An EC official at the polling station attributed the shortage of ballot box covers to logistical errors during distribution, noting that some polling stations reportedly took more materials than required. The official appealed to voters to accept the temporary arrangement, assuring them that the ballots would remain secure.
At the insistence of voters and candidates’ agents, the edges of the transparent buckets were cut with knives to allow the fitting of security seals.
By 11:00 a.m., voting at the polling station had yet to begin. Across Gulu City, several polling stations also opened late, some as late as 9:00 a.m., largely due to the failure to meet the minimum requirement of ten voters to witness the opening of ballot boxes. The local government elections have also recorded lower voter turnout compared to the presidential and parliamentary polls.
Mike Jjuko, the Gulu City Returning officer, however, told Uganda Radio Network that some of the covers had been left in one of the vehicles distributing the polling materials, which were later discovered.
Jjuko noted that the buckets were dispatched as a backup to ensure the voting proceeds.
“We then the covers, but now replacing the buckets, which were already sealed, will again require a consensus between the agents of the candidates,” he said.
He acknowledged the low voter turnout at the various polling stations compared to the January 15 presidential and parliamentary election.
The Gulu City mayoral race remains tightly contested between incumbent mayor Alfred Okwonga of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and independent candidate Julius Labeja Gunya. Other contenders include Mark Anthony Obonyo, Patrick Obonyo, and Jonathan Okello Oxy.
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