{"id":601,"date":"2025-06-12T22:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?p=601"},"modified":"2025-08-18T10:21:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T07:21:37","slug":"byabakama-challenges-critics-to-prove-ecs-inability-to-deliver-free-and-fair-2026-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?p=601","title":{"rendered":"Byabakama Challenges Critics to Prove EC\u2019s Inability to Deliver Free and Fair 2026 Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, has defended the Commission\u2019s capacity to deliver a credible election, urging critics to provide concrete evidence of bias instead of making sweeping accusations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking at a national workshop on Special Interest Groups (SIGs) elections in Kampala on Wednesday, Byabakama dismissed long-standing claims\u2014mostly from opposition parties\u2014that the EC lacks independence and fairness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe business of saying that as long as you are appointed by someone, you cannot conduct a free and fair election\u2026 the law says he who asserts must prove,\u201d Byabakama stated. \u201cYou show us evidence; but when you talk generally without specifics, then I also cannot give you clear answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The opposition, particularly the National Unity Platform (NUP) led by Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine), has consistently questioned the Commission\u2019s neutrality. In 2023, Kyagulanyi criticized President Museveni\u2019s reappointment of Byabakama to a fresh seven-year term, saying it signaled that the government had no intention of holding free and fair elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Byabakama, however, insisted that the EC applies the law equally to all candidates, including the incumbent president.<br>\u201cThe law says all candidates are treated equally, and we do that,\u201d he explained. \u201cBecause he is the incumbent, it doesn\u2019t mean he is absolved from nominations, collecting signatures, paying nomination fees, or presenting academic qualifications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Referencing the chaotic Kawempe North by-election in March 2025, Byabakama blamed the disorder on some political actors rather than the Commission.<br>\u201cWe delivered voting materials. But some of you decided to destroy them. Was that our fault?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The upcoming SIGs elections, which cover youth, older persons, persons with disabilities (PWDs), workers, and the Uganda People\u2019s Defence Forces (UPDF), are scheduled for June 17\u201319, 2025. These will mark the beginning of the 2025\/2026 General Elections cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diana Kateeba, the EC\u2019s head of field operations, used the workshop to clarify eligibility requirements. Youth candidates must be between 18 and 30 years old, while elderly candidates must be over 60, with dates verified through the national voter register.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Concerns were also raised about impostors posing as persons with disabilities to secure PWD seats. The EC emphasized that only recognized categories\u2014such as cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, mental disabilities, albinism, and multiple disabilities\u2014qualify for consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Justice Byabakama concluded with a cautionary note:<br>\u201cTo achieve credible elections, every stakeholder must play their part, not just the Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, has defended the Commission\u2019s capacity to deliver a credible election, urging critics to provide concrete evidence of bias instead of making sweeping accusations. Speaking at a national workshop on Special Interest Groups (SIGs) elections in Kampala on Wednesday, Byabakama dismissed long-standing claims\u2014mostly from opposition parties\u2014that the EC [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[75,74,81],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ec","tag-electoral-commission","tag-simon-byabakama"],"aioseo_notices":[],"blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB.jpg",1080,720,false]},"categories_names":{"27":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?cat=27"}},"tags_names":{"75":{"name":"EC","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?tag=ec"},"74":{"name":"Electoral Commission","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?tag=electoral-commission"},"81":{"name":"Simon Byabakama","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?tag=simon-byabakama"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-305x207.jpg",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-400x600.jpg",400,600,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-1024x720.jpg",1024,720,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB-130x95.jpg",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GOBLK_5WUAEqihB.jpg",1080,720,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}