Related Articles
BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2025
As January 15, 2026, the polling day for the Presidential and Parliamentary elections draws closer, the regional returning officer for West Nile has called upon the candidates to respect the mandate of the electoral commission to manage the election process and guard against the temptation of self-declaration of results.
Appealing in particular to the parliamentary candidates, Shesa Adam Juma said: “We encourage candidates to save some resources for deploying their agents at all polling stations. Let your agents go home with the declaration of results forms which is a summary of the polling results.”
He said the purpose is to allow the candidates to be sure of what has transpired at the polling stations but not to incite people through unauthorized declaration as a winner.
Juma however said the problem usually arises when candidates due to poverty fail to station agents at polling station but then complain of being cheated as they come to the tallying center to beg election officials to give those copies of declaration of results forms.
In the same vein, the media have also been warned to desist from announcing results before confirmation and verification by the electoral commission.
Juma said the media is an integral part of a transparent electoral process but added that they are only allowed to report individual polling station results rather than general results.
“Any sensational announcement of results can ignite chaos and that must be avoided at all costs,” he emphasized.
The commission is currently recruiting presiding officers, polling assistants and BVK technicians while all parish election supervisors and returning officers have been equipped with megaphones for voter education.
The parish supervisors are required to attend all the rallies of candidates at their parishes so as to guide voters on what is allowed and not allowed during the campaigns and the voting days.
Some of the banned practices include defacing and destruction of posters of rival candidates, a very rampant vice during the campaigns.
Juma said the campaign process in West Nile has largely gone well with a few incidences of skirmishes in Adjumani where candidates disputing the outcome of the National Resistance Movement primary elections are tussling with flag bearers.
“In fact the biggest tensions are between NRM flag bearers and those who did not accept loss in the internal party elections. There is less tension between the flag bearers and the opposition candidates,” he noted.
The returning officer said EC is striving to conduct a smart polling backed by technology where biometric voter verification kits (BVK) enhanced with visual recognition equipment will be used to buttress against manipulation.
Whereas every voter is expected to be issued with a voter location slip that indicates their place of voting, standing between the voter and the ballot paper will be the BVK.
After polling, the usual process of vote tallying and filling of the Declaration of Results forms signed by candidate’s agents will follow.
This is to ensure that the exercise if free and fair and done in the presence of local and international observers accredited by the electoral commission.
