As we are trying to get wind of the electoral period, the confirmation from the Electoral Commission that it excluded results from over 1,200 polling stations dampens the mood for the struggle for participatory electoral democracy. This is not the first time results are being excluded from the final tallying of results, this too happened in 2016 when results from some Polling stations including Kampala were ignored. This kind of precedent is not acceptable for our democracy.
The voters spent the entire day casting their vote and then you tell them that their votes cannot be included because they cannot make any significant change.
In an electoral Democracy, every vote counts and it doesn’t matter what their effect is. It is unfortunate that this kind of precedent continues to be perpetrated by the Electoral Commission and hopefully it can be legally put to rest. You cannot spend time and resources calling upon Ugandans to vote and then exclude their votes in the final tally all in the name of declaration of results.
It is funny that the polling stations excluded include those of Kampala and Wakiso which are even closer to the National Tallying center. What reason does the Electoral Commission have to exclude these votes. I think the EC owes the voters and the country detailed explanation as what stopped them from including these results regardless of their impact on the final results!
Elections cannot be free and fair when votes are excluded arbitrarily and without any explanation. The people whose votes were excluded were denied chance to exercise their right in determining who shall govern them and they have a case against the Electoral Commission. In a bid to improve our democracy, adding all election results should be a simple thing.
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