Uganda Electoral Commision Chairman, Dr. Badru Kiggundu
The Uganda Electoral Commission has extended the voter registration deadline to Friday June 19th to allow more Ugandan to register and be able to take part in the 2010 general elections.
The Electoral Commission Chairman, Dr. Badru Kiggundu says the commission has decided to postpone the registration exercise following the hundreds of people who turned up at different registration centers today which was meant to be the deadline of the earlier extension from June 3rd.
Kiggundu told journalists at a press conference in Kampala on Monday that the registration has been extended only in urban areas to allow people not yet registered to take advantage and register.
He appealed to all people to register by Friday June 19th as the Electoral Commission will not make any further extensions of the exercise supposed to have closed on June 3rd to allow Uganda have a proper voters register as the country prepares for the 2010 general elections.
Kiggundu says over 3,000,450 voters have been registered in this year’s fresh registration exercise, many of them in rural areas.
Many people have complained that EC officials carrying out the registration are few and the process is long and too technical that many people spend hours on many days coming and failing to register.
Many political leaders today led by former Local government minister and President of the People’s Progressive Party, Jabeli Bidandi Sali went to the Commission in the morning to appeal to the elections body to extend the exercise and allow more people to register and be able to vote.