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By Gilbert Mwesigye
Opposition Democratic Party (DP) President Norbert Mao has advised government to defer the forthcoming general elections due to public health concerns.
On Monday, Mao appeared before the committee of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, which is studying the views of political players on the revised electoral roadmap recently released by the Electoral Commission (EC), to give his party’s official position on the matter.
According to the new guidelines, there will be no mass rallies during the campaign period. This is intended to stem the spread of coronavirus in Uganda. The EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama, however, insists the rest of the election process will be as normal as stipulated in the law.
In his submission, Mao said it will be useless to hold scientific campaigns and then have a normal voting process. “There is no guarantee that Ugandans will be safe. You are going to have over 500 people sharing pens to tick, basins to touch; polling officials will be sharing tables, benches; they will be consulting frequently, leaning on each other.”
He added that it will be impossible to have free and fair elections if candidates have to campaign through media channels since there are places that do not receive radio or TV signals.
One of the many candidates who have already declared their intentions to stand for presidency, Mao now wants the elections deferred. He also called for the review of the current electoral reforms to provide for scientific campaigns.
In May, President Museveni said it would be ‘madness’ to hold elections if the coronavirus persisted. At the time, Uganda had 121 infections. Today, the number is inching near 1,000.
ELECTIONS CANNOT BE POSTPONED – EC
While announcing the revised electoral roadmap last month, EC boss Justice Simon Byabakama downplayed calls for the rescheduling of the polls. (See: EC WANTS AN EXTRA SHS55BN FOR ‘SCIENTIFIC ELECTION’ MEASURES AS BYABAKAMA ANNOUNCES KEY DATES IN REVISED 2021 ROADMAP).
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