Museveni wants compulsory electronic voting
Pointing fingers: President Museveni, the winner of the January 14 poll, says the Opposition stuffed ballots and intimidated NRM supporters especially NUP party. PHOTO/FILE.
What you need to know:
The President made the proposal while closing the first defence expo, which was organised in memory of former minister of Internal Affairs Gen Aronda Nyakairima, who died in September 2015.
President Museveni has proposed an amendment to the electoral laws compelling the Electoral Commission to suspend voting at polling stations once the electronic voters’ verification machines break down.
“The law must be amended. The law must provide that if the machine doesn’t work, you suspend the election,” Mr Museveni suggested yesterday as he accused the National Unity Platform (NUP), an opposition party, of rigging the election.
The President made the proposal while closing the first defence expo, which was organised in memory of former minister of Internal Affairs Gen Aronda Nyakairima, who died in September 2015.
In the 2021 elections, the electronic voters’ verification machines failed, especially in Kampala and other urban areas where the Opposition had more support, causing delays .
Mr Museveni, however, claimed that he has “the evidence that in the last election, NUP cheated by one million votes” .
The President also alleged that the rigging was done by party agents at the polling stations. He described having party agents at the polling stations as another mistake in the electoral laws.
The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, said: “The problem isn’t the machines, the problem is bad governance.”
On Mr Museveni’s allegations that NUP rigged the elections, Mr Ssenyonyi accused the ruling NRM party leader of playing reverse psychology.
