The republic of uganda in the supreme court of uganda at kampala

(a) That the voters Register was initially displayed countrywide for 3 days and everybody was free to scrutinize the said Register.


(b) That after consultations with and on request by agents of all Presidential Candidates including those of the petitioner, the 2” respondent extended the time for display of the voters Register for another 2 days.


(c) That in any case the contents in the above complaints of the petition do not constitute a ground upon which the election of a candidate as President can be annulled.

It was submitted that under Section 25(1) of the Electoral Commission Act, 1997, it was mandatory for the 2 respondent to display voters’ roll for a period of not less than 21 days, during which a copy of the voters’ roll for each parish or ward shall be displayed for public scrutiny and during which any objection or complaints in relation to the names included in the voter’ roll or in relation to any necessary corrections shall be raised or filed.

It was further submitted for petitioner that the 2nd respondent purposely failed to do so for 21 days as a result of which voters’ rolls were not cleaned to remove ghost voters, people who had died, people who ought not to be on the roll, because for instance they migrated to other areas or because they are underage or are non-citizens.

For 2^nd respondent it was submitted that the 2’ respondent was empowered to reduce or increase the period from 21 days. On this very point, it seems to me that whereas the Electoral Commission (EC) had powers under Section 38(1) of the same Act to do anything for purpose of carrying out its functions, it had no powers to abridge the period of display of voters’ Register/roll, because the section states as follows:

“Where, during the course of an election, it appears to the commission, by reason of any mistake, miscalculation, emergency or unusual or unforeseen circumstances, any of the provisions of this Act or any law relating to election other than the constitution, does not accord with exigencies of the situation, the Commission may, by particular or general instructions, extend the time stations or otherwise adapt any of the provisions as may be required to achieve the purpose of this Act or the law …….”