Kampala, Uganda - What would have been the biggest turnout of voters at an election in the East African nation of Uganda, on Friday at the country's presidential and parliamentary polls, has been marred by logistic problems, including a messy voter's register and late arrival of electoral officials. While many enthusiastic voters had turned up at polling stations across the country even before the 6am Eastern Standard Time opening of voting, late arrival of the officials as well as election materials delayed voting till mid-day at many stations.

In some instances, election materials were sent to wrong polling stations, while some voting centres received incomplete materials.

And for many who had arrived early to vote and queued for several hours, it was a big shock when they could not find their names on the register, or found that their biodata did not match their photographs.

Samuel Walter Lubega, one of the eight Presidential Candidates, was a victim of the confusion.

The Independent presidential hopeful found his name missing at the polling station where he registered, and was referred to a nearby polling station, where he found his particulars but the picture of different person. 

The situation in Kampala, which has seen many voters giving up and returning home or to work, has been echoed across the country, according to live TV and Radio coverage of the election in which incumbent President Yoweri Museveni is seeking to extend his 25-year rule to 30-years.

Analysts blame the logistic nightmare on administrative failures by the Electoral Commission (EC).

They cited nepotism in the recruitment of polling officials as the reason behind the officials' late arrival and mixed deliveries of polling materials.

“We have a serious problem here. EC was not prepared for this job. It is evident that the recruitment of the polling officials and training was characterized by nepotism,” said Haruna Kanabi, a veteran journalist.

“The level of enthusiasm has been high across the country, with people turning up at polling stations as early 4:30am, but only to be frustrated by EC officials who did not respect their work,” Kanabi added.

Some 13.9 million voters were registered for the elections, two times more the number for the last election in 2006.

Museveni is seeking a fourth term in office. His top challenger is Dr. Kizza Besigye, who is making a third attempt to wrest power from Museveni.

Other presidential candidates are Nobert Mao of the Democratic Party (DP) and Olara Otunnu of the Uganda People Congress (UPC), Abed Bwanika of the People’s Development Party (PDP), Jaberi Bidandi Ssali of the People’s Progress Party (PPP), Beti Kamya of the Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA) and Samuel Lubega, an independent candidate.

In the parliamentary contest, the NRM is fielding 364 candidates, FDC (288), UPC (135), DP (120), UFA (66), PDP (18) and PPP (33)

Pana 19/02/2011