Political parties and opposition candidates shall not be allowed to have parallel election results tally centers on January 15th 2021 when Uganda votes in the General election, the Electoral Commission has warned.
Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, the Electoral Commission Chairman told the media on Wednesday while flagging off electoral materials to districts that under the law, there is only one recognized tally center that is; the national tally center for the presidential elections and the district tally centers for the parliamentary and other categories of elections.
He noted that by law, his commission is mandated to give every candidate a copy of the declaration of results form from each polling station so that they know what everybody has scored at what polling station.
“We want to encourage the political parties to get Declaration of Results Forms from each polling station and wait for the results as declared by the Electoral Commission then you can compare with your DR forms whether what we have released is different from what you have on the DR forms,” Byabakama said.
Byabakama noted that he doesn’t understand the rationale of parties having parallel tally centers that are not provided for in the law, explaining that those who will go against this directive and use these centers to declare results, a preserve of his commission, then security will have no other option but intervene.
Political parties held a meeting at Hotel Africana on Tuesday and announced plans that included among others having a joint tally center to tabulate their results.
The electoral commission set 14th January 2021 as the day Ugandans will elect a President and Members of Parliament across the country.