The Attorney General William Byaruhanga has come out to rubbish media reports which suggested that the new electoral reforms consisted of early voting of security personnel as a provision.
Convening an urgent press briefing at the Media Center on Tuesday afternoon, Byaruhanga who was accompanied by his deputy Mwesigwa Rukutana also denied that the new bill he presented to Parliament on 25th July, proposed barring of cameras and phones at polling areas.
Statement
The Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill 2019, The Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The Bills contain proposed electoral reforms received from various stakeholders, including the Electoral Commission, the National Planning Authority, the National Consultative Forum, Interparty Organization for Dialogue (IPOD), the Citizen’s Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda and the European Union in its Election Observation Mission Report of the Uganda Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Council Elections dated 18th February 2016.
The five Bills as tabled before Parliament also give effect to the recommendations of the Supreme Court in the case of Hon. Amama Mbabazi Vs H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and others Election Petition No.1 of 2016. These are specifically contained in clause 1, 7, and 13 of the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and clause 2 of the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2019. These reforms are in addition to the recommendations that Parliament handled under the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2018.
Since 25th July 2019 when the Electoral Bills were tabled before Parliament, there have been a number of misrepresentations on the contents of the Bill arising from the failure to carefully read and comprehend the provisions of the Bills or intentionally made to misinform the public by way of politicking and concocting provisions which don’t form part of the bills presented before Parliament by Government.
Among the provisions;
Early voting by soldiers and security personnel
Prohibition on use of cameras or cell phones at polling stations;
Prohibition of independent members from forming an alliance with registered political parties or organizations and;
Restricting the declaration of election results to the presence of five voters only.
From the bills tabled before parliament there is no single provision in the bills that has a direct or indirect provision as to early voting by soldiers and other security personnel and use of cameras.