Electoral Commission could consider allowing limited number of people on political rallies.
This was announced by the Electoral Commission Chairman Justice Simon Byabakama on Thursday while meeting political actors from Inter- Party organization for dialogue (IPOD) at Sheraton Hotel.
The meeting was part of of EC’s arrangement in consulting stakeholders before fully releasing the final election guidelines ahead of 2021 polls amid a global pandemic novel Coronavirus.
EC administration had in the recent past banned all political rallies, which sparked off fury among political leaders who wondered how they would reach out to their supporters.
On Thursday Byabakama said the Commission was studying some of the alternatives.
“We have taken note of these concerns and as a result of the engagements we have had with stakeholders, the commission is considering numerous recommendation floated by the stakeholders,” he said.
Among the recommendations under consideration, he said, was the possibility of allowing political candidates to conduct regulated meetings with restricted numbers of people.
These rallies, Byabakama said could have numbers as small as 50, or 30 or 100.
“We have never encountered these kinds of challenges before. We never imagined that there would be a day when we couldn’t go to church, or our children to school,” he said.
The meeting, was attended by various heads of political parties.
ANT presidential candidate Gen Mugisha Muntu welcomed EC idea saying, “regulated meetings are possible as long as you stick to the regulations like wearing of masks and social distancing and washing hands. If we all work together with can achieve that.