By Arthur Wadero: Several stakeholders of Uganda’s 2026 general elections have asked government authorities like the Electoral Commission (EC) and other relevant entities to install measures that will deepen the active participation of women, plus other categories that are often marginalized, such as persons with disabilities (PWDs).
The advice follows a series of concerns that some persons, such as women, were heavily marginalized in the just concluded Parliamentary and Presidential elections conducted on January 15, 2026.
For instance, the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, noted that women and persons with disabilities were largely impeded by financial constraints as pre-condition for them to be nominated.
The concerns were stated as the Head of the African Union (AU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) observation mission.
“Stakeholders raised concerns that the effective participation of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in open seats is also hindered by high nomination fees (20 million Ugandan shillings for a presidential candidate and three million shillings for constituency parliamentary candidates),” H.E Jonathan said.
He further shared that there was minimal voter education for the electorate before the actual conduct of elections held on January 15 and other subsequent days.
“The mission noted concerns from organizations for persons with disabilities that voter education was inadequate and most voting stations were inaccessible,” Jonathan said.
He also decried the struggles encountered in aggregating voter data compiled by the Electoral Commission.
“Overall, the mission could not obtain official election data disaggregated by gender, age, and disability status from the Electoral Commission,” he said.
Similar observations were made by the Head of East African Community (EAC) election observer mission, Ambassador Edda Mukabagwiza, who noted that many women did not participate in the slots for directly elected Members of Parliament (MPs), and also the reason for no female candidate in the Presidential elections held on January 15.
“The mission noted that although there was no female presidential candidate or disaggregated data on female candidates,” Ambassador Mukabagwiza said.
She also disclosed that many women registered as voters, saying “The mission noted that 53 per cent of the registered voters are female, which demonstrates commendable women’s participation in the country’s election process.”
Major concerns were equally noted, including the shutdown of the Internet services in the country, something that could have impeded service provision and access to information. This equally resonates with fears that were raised in a policy brief published by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) in July 2023.
“Equality of participation by women and men in elections as voters has been globally acknowledged as a vital contributor to women’s full and effective participation in political decision-making. Uganda made significant progress in having more women engage in electoral processes as voters,” the policy brief reads in part.
For this reason, government entities like the Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) to avail requisite services and supporting conditions to allow full participation of other stakeholders in the electoral process.
“There is a need to ensure that public access to information through ICT, such as internet services are available and accessible to all persons during the electoral process,” Ambassador Mukabagwiza said.
She added, “Measures should be put in place to balance security concerns with the benefits of public access to internet services.”
To ease access to statistical data breakdown on female and male in the electoral process, the Ambassador advised the Electoral Commission to “endeavour to publish disaggregated data indicating the number of female and youth candidates in each election to inform public policy and advocacy.”
The observations and recommendations from regional and international election observer missions underscore the urgent need for Uganda’s electoral authorities to adopt more inclusive, transparent, and enabling measures ahead of future electoral cycles. While the high registration of women voters reflects notable progress, persistent barriers, such as prohibitive nomination fees, inadequate voter education, inaccessible polling stations, limited access to information, and the absence of disaggregated electoral data, continue to constrain meaningful participation by women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. Addressing these gaps will require deliberate policy reforms, improved data management, enhanced civic education, and the balancing of security concerns with fundamental democratic freedoms. As Uganda prepares for its next elections, strengthening inclusive participation will be critical not only to improving electoral credibility but also to advancing equitable representation and democratic governance.
