Uganda: Uganda: What Voters Must Know

It is exactly nine days to the much-awaited February 18, at the same time as registered Ugandan voters will begin casting their ballot at 7am across the country to pick the next president and Members of Parliament.

Other lower tier government voting will be happen in the weeks next.

Because elections are high-stake, the exercise is often fraught with suspicion, tension and, in some cases, clashes.

Uganda's politics has over the years become heavily commercialised, with the Alliance for Campaigns Finance Monitoring estimating that all the parties and individual presidential candidates in the initial two months combined spent Shs137 billion.

Eighty-eight % of this campaign finance, Shs121b, of the in general campaign funding was spent by the ruling National Resistance Movement party alone.

Because candidates pick bank loans, deplete their savings, sell investments/houses or borrow from friends to oil their campaigns, they tend to stop at nothing to ensure victory.

From presently on the voters have a business to make an informed choice, based on the candidates' manifestos for additional of the same or a change.

In making the decisions, all parties must adhere to democratic principles and stipulated rules, with the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of the nationwide exercise.

Below are seven key issues to know and guide you on the polling day, and particularly conduct at the polling station, in executing your adult suffrage responsibility.

Who is eligible to vote?

One should be a Ugandan citizen, 18-years-old or above and duly registered with particulars available in the national voters' register.

However, according to the EC, even if you have a national ID or a voter's card but your name is not on the 2016 National Voters Register, you will not be allowed to vote as per Section 19 (12) of the amended Electoral Commission Act, 1997.

Presiding officers and polling assistants will be due responsible for election management at a polling station. Security at the polling station will primarily be the responsibility of police personnel and any other security agency they call upon.

Some of the electoral offences you should avoid or observe include impersonation, multiple voting, bribe-soliciting or taking, violence and vote rigging. Statement such infractions to either police or election officials.

Under the revised electoral laws, voting will begin at 7am and end at 4pm. Voters and candidates' agents should arrive at the polling station early so that they can confirm that the ballot boxes are blank before the voting begins.

Polling stations rules

According to EC rules, inside a polling station is restricted to the presiding officer, his or her polling assistants and the polling constable. Other persons who can sit inside the polling station are the candidates' agents. Each candidate is allowed at least two agents per polling stations. There are four tables inside a polling station and the voters are required to line up before accessing a ballot paper.

"A voter can only access the polling station for purposes of voting next which he or she exits," said EC deputy spokesman Paul Bukenya, adding that that accredited poll observers can sit inside the polling station, if a seat is available, but they will mostly stand, and observe the process.

Voter Location Slips

The EC has introduced a Voter Location Slip (VLS) to inform and guide voters to their respective polling stations. The commission will, therefore, issue due to each voter a VLS.

This will, part others, be used as a initial step for identification of voters on polling day. It will be used at four rounds of elections during the general election; at the presidential/parliamentary, district chairpersons, sub-county chairpersons and municipal division chairpersons and councillors elections.

Issuance of VLS commenced at the parish level on February 1 and ends on Sunday. However, a voter whose name is on the register but is unable to produce a VLS on polling day will be allowed to vote.

Ordinarily, a person will vote at the polling station where they registered. To be certain, log onto http://www.ec.or.ug/register or text your voter number, application ID or National Identification Number (NIN) to 8228 to check your polling station.

Marketing candidates

Campaigns officially end on Tuesday, February 16, next which any vote-canvassing will be illegal. Polling officials will on polling day stop people from discussing the merits of different candidates or parties - as it may unsettle other voters. Voters or candidates are not allowed to turn polling stations into campaign venues. So you are not allowed to ask someone to disclose their preferred candidate choice.

Security agents

According to the electoral body, soldiers, police officers and prison warders will vote at polling stations located outside the quarter guard/barracks. Any polling station inside the barracks is illegal.

Persons requiring assistance

If you or your relative is physically impaired or requires assistance to cast the ballot, the polling officials should be duly notified. Such a voter will be allowed to authorise a confidante to tick on their behalf on the ballot paper.

However, the person assisting a voter must not be an election official, a polling agent or accredited observer or monitor and no one is allowed to assist additional than one person. It is an offence to pretend to have a disability for the purpose of voting. Disability does not disqualify a voter from exercising their right to vote.

Other Dos and Don'ts

- Do not bribe or be bribed, you will be arrested.

- Voting takes place in the open, but your choice is made in secret. Not even the polling officer or agent should know about your choice.

- If in doubt, please ask the polling officers for guidance

- It is an offence to cause disturbance at a polling station. You will face arrest.

What do I need as voter on polling day?

Present yourself to the polling station where you are registered as a voter.

-Present your voter identification documents (voter's card, national identity card, or your voter location slip).

-If you do not have any of the above, you can still be assisted by the Presiding Officer to check and confirm your particulars on the National Voters Register.

-The presiding officer will authenticate your identity using the Biometric Voter Verification System (BVVS) gadgets which read finger prints to match with a person's particulars captured in the national Voters' Register.

-Next verification, you will be issued with a ballot paper.

-Proceed to the basin and mark the candidate of your choice, using either the tick or thumbprint.

-Fold the ballot paper lengthwise as shown by the presiding officer, and proceed to the ballot box and carefully insert the ballot paper.

-The polling assistant will mark the cuticle of your finger to indicate that you have voted.

Note: Voting begins at 7am in the morning and closes at 4pm in the evening on Thursday, February 18, 2016. Please get to your polling station in time to vote!

Use of guns, phones

Guns and other potentially harmful instruments such as machetes and knives are not allowed at the polling stations. The polling constable at a polling station is not expected to be armed either.

Armed security personnel can only access the polling station if there is a situation, say violence, to manage. The idea is to enable voters make their choices without any form of intimidation or interference.

Although mobile phones and cameras are allowed inside the polling station due to the potential breach of the law, intentionally or not, EC strongly advises against any form of photography, tweeting of facebooking inside a polling station.