Ugandans head to the polls amid tight controls, muted opposition

As Ugandans line up to cast their ballots today in presidential and parliamentary elections, voting is taking place after an unusually tense and tightly controlled buildup.

The final hours before polling have been marked by suspension of civil society organisations, arrest of a prominent election governance expert, heavy security deployment, and a nationwide internet shutdown ordered just hours before polls opened. These developments have cast a long shadow over credibility of the electoral process.

Campaigns officially ended earlier this week under the supervision of the Electoral Commission, which said it had concluded preparations for polling day. Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama stated that the Commission had distributed election materials, deployed polling officials across the country, and coordinated with security agencies to ensure what he described as a peaceful and credible vote. He repeatedly assured the public that the Commission was ready to conduct a “free, fair and credible election,” noting that sensitive materials had been dispatched to districts and presiding officers trained.

The AU–COMESA–IGAD Election Observation Mission to the 2026 Uganda General Election has deployed observers across multiple regions ahead of today’s polls. The joint mission said its presence is intended to support a peaceful, transparent, and credible process, with observers monitoring voting, counting, and results management in line with regional and continental democratic standards.

However, even as campaigns wound down, attention quickly shifted from political messaging to security measures and restrictions on information and civic activity. In the final days before polling, the election environment became increasingly shaped by directives aimed at controlling movement, communication, and mobilisation. Heavy deployments of police and military personnel, already visible in major locations throughout the campaign period, intensified further in the days leading up to today’s vote, signaling the state’s focus on maintaining tight oversight of electoral activity.

That shift became most visible on Tuesday January 13, when the Uganda Communications Commission ordered all telecommunications companies and internet service providers to suspend public internet access nationwide, effective 6pm. The directive also required operators to halt new SIM card sales and registrations and to suspend outbound data roaming to neighbouring countries under the One Network Area arrangement.

The UCC said the measures were necessary to curb spread of misinformation, prevent electoral fraud, and avert potential violence. The decision drew immediate criticism from media freedom and digital rights groups. The International Press Institute condemned the shutdown, warning that cutting off internet access during elections undermines transparency, restricts access to information, and hampers journalists’ ability to report accurately.

In a statement, IPI called on Ugandan authorities to “guarantee the safety of journalists covering the election and immediately reverse the directive ordering an internet shutdown,” adding that it was “deeply concerned by the prevailing attacks on journalists and the undermining of fundamental rights like free expression and access to information in the build-up to the election.”

In response to the shutdown, opposition leader Bobi Wine urged supporters to remain calm and continue documenting events using alternative digital tools, including offline recording, delayed uploads, and secure messaging applications that allow content to be shared once connectivity is restored, framing the effort as a way to preserve evidence rather than mobilise protests.

The internet shutdown coincided with intensified security preparations, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas considered politically sensitive. Assistant Inspector General of Police Mwesigwa Frank, the Director of Operations at the Uganda Police Force, on Monday convened a high-level meeting with command and staff from Kampala Metropolitan Police, alongside regional police leadership from Masaka, Jinja, Lugazi, Mityana, and Mpigi.

According to a police briefing issued after the meeting, AIGP Mwesigwa directed that all field intelligence officers be embedded at community level, with a focus on detecting early indicators of mobilisation, misinformation, and potential unrest. “Intelligence flow should remain continuous,” Mwesigwa said, stressing the need for real-time situational awareness throughout election day.

He further instructed that all crowd control and public order management units remain on full operational readiness. “We are prioritising area dominance, denial of unlawful assemblies, and swift dispersal where thresholds are breached,” he said. “Use of force remains lawful, graduated and decisive.”

While police described the posture as preventive and necessary to maintain order, critics and opposition figures pointed out that many of the areas singled out for intensified monitoring are long regarded as opposition strongholds, raising concerns about selective enforcement and intimidation on polling day.

These security measures have unfolded alongside growing concern about the shrinking civic space in which the election is being conducted. In the days leading up to today’s vote, the National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organisations, a department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ordered the suspension of at least ten prominent civil society organisations, citing intelligence reports and allegations that they had engaged in activities deemed “prejudicial to national security.”

The organisations affected include African Centre for Media Excellence, Agora Centre for Research, National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, Alliance for Election Finance Monitoring, Centre for Constitutional Governance, Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, Uganda National NGO Forum, Network of Public Interest Lawyers, Chapter Four Uganda, and the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims.

The suspension orders took immediate effect, requiring the organisations to halt all operations pending investigations. For groups involved in election monitoring, voter education, journalist safety, legal aid, and campaign finance oversight, the directives effectively removed them from the electoral process at the most critical moment.

In the case of Chapter Four, authorities invoked Section 42(d) of the NGO Act, stating that intelligence information suggested the organisation was engaged in activities prejudicial to national security. The NGO Bureau directed the Inspector General of Police to ensure compliance and notified financial oversight bodies of the suspension.

Leaders of several affected organisations expressed concern over the timing and implications of the suspensions. Robert Ssempala, Executive Director of the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, said the decision came “just days before the general election” and risked crippling journalist support systems at a time when reporters face heightened risk. He said HRNJ-U would cooperate with investigations but warned that the suspension would severely hinder election-related programmes the organisation had been implementing. Both HRNJ-U and Chapter Four Uganda have previously documented alleged abuses against opposition supporters and journalists.

Robert Kirenga, Executive Director of the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, confirmed that his organisation had complied with the directive and closed its offices, notifying staff and partners while seeking clarification on the basis of the suspension. Henry Muguzi, Executive Director of the Alliance for Election Finance Monitoring, said the suspension threatened ongoing efforts to promote transparency and accountability in campaign financing, adding that while ACFIM would cooperate with authorities, it hoped investigations would be fair and transparent.

At the African Centre for Media Excellence, Peter Mwesige said the organisation had not, as of then, received official communication instructing it to suspend operations, despite reports naming ACME among those affected. He noted that development partners were already seeking clarification from government and emphasised that ACME’s work has focused on strengthening newsroom capacity and professional journalism, including election coverage.

The NGO suspensions form part of a broader pattern of shrinking civic space flagged by rights monitors and international observers. The United Nations Human Rights Office has warned that Uganda’s election is taking place in an environment “marked by widespread repression and intimidation.” In an assessment released days before polling, the UN documented increased use of force against peaceful assemblies, arbitrary detentions, and targeted actions against critics and civic actors.

The UN also highlighted the arrest of Sarah Bireete, Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance, who was detained on December 30 and charged with unlawfully accessing and disclosing voters’ register data. Bireete, a respected lawyer and regional election governance expert, remains in detention pending legal proceedings. Her arrest has drawn widespread criticism from rights groups, who say it signals an effort to criminalise election oversight.

Concerns around Bireete’s arrest intersect with longstanding questions about the integrity of Uganda’s voters’ register. In every presidential election cycle since 2006, opposition candidates have raised complaints about voter rolls, citing missing names, duplicated names, inflated figures, and discrepancies between polling stations and declared results. While courts have upheld election outcomes, they have repeatedly acknowledged administrative weaknesses within the Electoral Commission that undermined public confidence.

Those unresolved issues frame today’s vote. Election law experts note that access to the voters’ register is not discretionary but a legal obligation intended to prevent disputes before polling. Section 19 of the Electoral Commission Act requires the Commission to compile, update, and provide the national voters’ register to candidates and political parties within specified timelines.

Opposition parties argue that this requirement was not met. While the Commission says the register was displayed for public inspection at polling stations, parties and observers say they were denied access to a consolidated national register in a usable format and within the legally required timeframe. Without it, they argue, independent verification of voter distribution, removal of deceased voters, and detection of duplication was not possible.

Civil society groups have warned that public inspection alone is insufficient in a national election involving tens of thousands of polling stations. Individual voters can only verify their own names, they note, while systemic irregularities require full datasets and time for analysis. Proceeding to an election without resolving these concerns risks turning post-election disputes into political crises rather than legal processes grounded in agreed facts.

The implications extend beyond Uganda. Across East Africa, disputed voter registers have contributed to prolonged electoral instability, including in Kenya and Malawi. Regional observers therefore view Uganda’s handling of the register as a test of whether electoral credibility is built through transparency or enforced through institutional control.

today’s vote is taking place in a highly constrained environment. Polling stations opened under heavy security deployment including military and amid a nationwide internet shutdown, with voters casting their ballots under conditions marked by restricted access to information, limited civic participation, and lingering concerns over transparency.