Justice Simon Byabakama
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I As Uganda gears up to the general election set for early next year, the Electoral Commission has announced a revision in the nomination dates for presidential candidates ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Justice Simon Byabakama, the Commission Chairman, announced that the nomination of candidates for president has been moved from October 2nd and 3rd to September 23rd and 24th, 2025.
“The Electoral Commission has adjusted the dates for the nomination of candidates for Presidential Elections 2025/2026, which was earlier scheduled to be conducted on 2nd and 3rd October 2025,” he said in a statement, adding that the nominations will now take place on 23rd and 24th September 2025.
Said Byabakama: “The commission made this adjustment after taking into account the post-nomination processes that have to be concluded before the candidates get on the campaign trail.”
He mentioned these as the capturing of presidential nomination returns, production of ballot paper samples, harmonization of the campaign programs, and signing of the Memorandum of Undertaking by all the nominated candidates.
Byabakama added that after taking into account all the above, the commission realized that if it’s to maintain the earlier nomination dates, these post-nomination processes would drastically reduce the period available for the campaigns.
“In view of the above, we will soon announce the start date for collecting the supporter forms, along with the timelines for the collection of the signatures and submission for verification,” said the commission boss, adding that they will announce the start date for collecting Nomination Forms for the Parliamentary and Local Government Councils Elections, as well as the relevant guidelines.
Section 10(b) of the Presidential Elections Act provides that a presidential candidate’s nomination shall be supported by not less than one hundred persons who are registered voters in each of at least 2/3 of all the districts in Uganda, which translates to about 97 districts.
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