Some people especially youth and urban working class seem to have lost hope in the Uganda electoral process. Error Voter registers and unregistered voters pose a significant challenge to electoral authorities. An updated voter register provides clear and fast identification of voters, discourages fraud voting, identify entitle voter remove duplication and update voter roll ensuring the participation of excluded groups. Young people are uninvolved in politics, often seeing it as irrelevant to their lives and the things they really care about. Social media is a place to pass on the message to youth. Ugandans need to be sensitised that they have power to change leadership. It is not automatic that the incumbents usually win. Most people who register to vote do actually vote. On the political side, we need to make politics relevant to everyone. We need to give people reasons and hope to vote.
Uganda government should draft laws against those who fail to register since not everyone takes elections as a serious civic duty. This will result in high registration rates and voter participation. Political parties and individuals are crucial in persuading the public to register to vote. In Uganda, there is a growing belief in and the rise of candidate-centered politics. One’s political participation matters and citizens generally seem to vote for particular parties they agree with.
The Uganda Electoral commission should issue more reassuring messages on key concerns about the 2016 elections so that people are encouraged to participate in ongoing voter register update exercise. Electoral issues like independence, reforms and fairness must be frequently discussed in different Public domain.
Ivan .N .Baliboola
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