EC Halts Swearing-In of LC1 Leaders in Villages With Pending Election Complaints

What the report says

Uganda’s Electoral Commission has ordered local government authorities to stop swearing in newly elected Local Council One (LC1) chairpersons and committees in villages where election results are still being contested. According to the Commission, the affected leaders will only take office after complaints about the conduct and outcome of the village elections have been heard and resolved. The directive was issued in a public notice and applies only to villages and cells with pending cases before the Commission.

Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama said the body has already begun reviewing the complaints, but the process is not yet complete. He said the pause on swearing-in is meant to ensure that disputed results are handled first, rather than allowing office transitions to proceed while challenges remain unresolved. The Commission has also posted the list of affected villages and cells on its website.

The move follows the LC1 elections held on July 28, which the Commission said were successfully conducted in most of the country’s villages. The public article notes that some areas experienced violence, disruption of materials, and disputes over voter registers, leading to repeat polling in certain places. The village elections were the first in several years and are part of Uganda’s broader grassroots leadership structure, which also feeds into later Parish/Ward elections. In general, election administrators often use such pauses to preserve the integrity of disputed results while complaints are examined, though each case depends on local procedures.