The following steps should be taken to improve procedures on election day:
i. The voter’s finger should be checked for ink before voting;
ii. Young voters’ cards should be checked to see if they are 17;
iii. Clear procedures should be produced on how to assist illiterate or disabled voters;
iv. Greater staff training and voter education on valid and invalid votes is needed to avoid inconsistency in the identification of invalid ones;
v. Ballot papers should be provided with numbered stubs to assist in accounting for them, as was done for the parliamentary elections;
vi. The polling station minutes (Actas de Operasaun) and any ballots not used (unused, cancelled) should be considered sensitive material.

The election laws should be amended and the CNE should pass a regulation to ensure that the publication of results is detailed and accurate. In particular:
i. Copies of each polling station minutes (Acta de Operasaun) should be made available to candidate or party agents at the polling station.
ii. If counting takes place at polling stations, greater efforts should be made to ensure that the minutes are displayed at each polling centre immediately after the count.
iii. Detailed preliminary and final results should be published in due time in newspapers, announced to the media, and posted on the CNE’s website. An electronic copy on CDs could be made available to candidates and parties and to observers. A clear explanation should be given of the tabulation process, and why results may change during district and national tabulation.
iv. When publishing partial, preliminary or final results the CNE should publish all available data, including results for all candidates, the total number of votes cast, and the number of invalid ballots.
v. When publishing preliminary or final results, the results should be broken down by district and polling station.
vi. Candidates and parties should be given the detailed breakdown of preliminary results as soon as they are announced, because they only have 24 hours to present an appeal against them.

Préciser les dispositions relatives à la centralisation des résultats afin d’établir de manière non- ambiguë les conditions et les limites dans lesquelles les Commissions Electorales Locales Indépendantes (CELI) ainsi que la Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI) interviennent en terme de redressement des résultats.

Publier, à l’issue des résultats, outre une ventilation détaillée des résultats par bureaux de vote, des outils d’analyse post-électoraux afin de favoriser la compréhension des mécanismes du système électoral dans la population et ce afin de favoriser l’acceptation des résultats.

Le recours au vote par dérogation devrait faire l’objet d’un encadrement rigoureux, notamment par le strict respect des procédures d’accréditation préalable des témoins, observateurs et agents électoraux. La mise en place d’une procédure de déclaration préalable à la tenue du scrutin, auprès des structures locales de la CENI, pourrait être envisagée pour autoriser d’autres catégories de personnes en déplacement à prendre part au vote. La mise à disposition de ces bureaux de la CENI d’une copie électronique du registre électoral national permettrait la vérification préalable de l’enregistrement régulier du requérant.

La publication systématique des résultats provisoires décomposés par bureau de vote constitue une garantie essentielle de la transparence et de la crédibilité des scrutins. Les décomptes publiés devront également porter mention des votes de dérogation.

Polling Station Reforms: Voters should be able to vote only in an allocated polling station which should be located only in public buildings. This would reduce the number of ballot papers needed, reduce the number of ballot boxes and increase the accountability of the process. The OSE could display all relevant data in each polling station at the end of each polling day. This form could also be distributed to party agents and observers.

To make the electoral system more robust and improve the integrity of future elections some preparatory and procedural adjustments might be considered, such as:
?? timely distribution of materials so any mistakes and omissions could be dealt with;
?? the serial numbering of result and aggregation forms used at each counting and aggregation level;
?? procedures in polling stations should be streamlined and training provided to ensure that polling stations staff know what has to be done and why;
?? ensuring that two copies of final voters’ lists (FVLs) are prepared, distributed and allocated to all polling stations (one for public display and one to tick off the voters who received ballot papers);
?? stressing the importance of securing ballot papers and other sensitive election material at all times;
?? strict enforcement of voter identification, including a systematic check for ink and subsequent inking;
?? assuring the secrecy of vote, by locating voting booths in an appropriate manner;
?? improving polling, counting and aggregation procedures to eliminate duplication and simplifying the procedures where possible;
?? assuring the public display of official election results at all levels after counting or aggregation is completed; assuring a direct feed of results from polling station level to district aggregation centres to deter any attempt to manipulate successive aggregations of votes;
?? ensure a consistent application of all rules and regulations.

La publication des résultats doit se faire de façon détaillée par bureau de vote dans des délais qui permettent de former utilement un recours éventuel sur la base des informations détaillées ainsi mises à la disposition des candidats. Une telle exigence de publication doit être prévue par la loi. Les moyens informatiques devraient être pleinement exploités pour accroître la transparence dans ce domaine. Il convient également qu’une valeur probante soit reconnue aux extraits des procès-verbaux de résultats pour rendre possible leur confrontation éventuelle avec les originaux en cas de contentieux.

El voto para ciudadanos habilitados en su derecho a votar y que residan en el exterior no tendría que suponer un costo para los votantes. Sería aconsejable introducir mecanismos para que se les reembolse a los votantes los gastos de correo, cuando fuera necesario.

Se recomienda que la legislación se enmiende con el objetivo de regular la realización de un recuento en un numero de casillas previamente determinado (muestreo aleatorio) cuando los resultados de las elecciones sean muy parejos. Si el resultado de este muestreo indicara que un recuento total podría afectar los resultados, el IFE debería realizar un recuento total de oficio.

The filling in of polling station and results forms and the completion of accuracy checks in the filling in of the results forms should be more specifically addressed in the training. Polling station staff should always be provided with calculators.

The publication of the preliminary results should be regulated by detailed and transparent rules. The CSE should be obliged by law to publish the preliminary results in their entirety, including the complete polling station breakdown, thus removing the possibility of the CSE deciding arbitrarily how many and which part of the results to be made public. Crucial statistics on voter turnout, number of valid and invalid votes, and the number of polling stations challenged and annulled should also be made public in the publication of preliminary results.

The following steps should be taken to improve voting procedures.
(i) Different ballot papers should be on different coloured paper.
(ii) Posters carrying the names and symbols of all candidates and national lists should be displayed in all polling stations and polling centres.
(iii) All ballot papers that clearly show the intention of the voter should be considered valid.
(iv) The prohibition against family or group voting should be enforced by polling station committees.
(v) All polling centres and, wherever possible, all polling stations should be made accessible to the disabled.

The CEC should adopt a clear framework for the tabulation and publication of results at every stage of the results process so as to ensure that results are published speedily, completely and accurately so as to achieve full transparency of the process. In particular:
(i) Greater steps must be taken to ensure that PSCs immediately display results.
(ii) DEOs should publish the results protocols from polling stations at the time they are submitted.
(iii) Partial and preliminary results should be published by the CEC and DEOs as soon as they are available.
(iv) When publishing preliminary or partial results, the CEC should publish all available data, including results for all candidates, and results broken down by polling station. The Electoral Law could be amended to detail exactly what information should be published. If publishing partial results, the CEC should clearly identify them as such and provide explanations for any changes.

Although the right to vote is given to all Ugandans resident or non-resident in the country, “if feasible”, according to the law, there has been no voting outside Uganda. Consideration could be given to introducing provisions to allow Ugandans temporarily living abroad to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections, by post or in consulates.

To increase transparency and confidence in the process, the NEC and the ZEC ought to allow unlimited access to political party representatives and observers during all stages of the aggregation of presidential, National Assembly, House of Representatives and councilors elections. Proper facilities should be put in place to allow for an overall monitoring of the process, especially since the presidential results declared by the NEC and the ZEC cannot be challenged in court.

The Electoral Law should be amended to give precedence to the voters' clear intention, regardless of the actual sign used to express it in the determination of valid votes.

A comprehensive review of the different forms required from polling station committees and constituency electoral offices should be carried out to make them simpler and easier to complete as well as reducing the number of different forms. The forms for polling station and constituency offices should be on carbonless copy paper to reduce the workload of election officials and speed up the counting and consolidation processes. The use of trained personnel sent from the NEBE headquarters to assist and possibly digitalise certain elements of the consolidation process could be considered.

Consideration of absentee voting in order to reduce the disenfranchisement of IDPs, nomads, migrant workers and temporarily displaced persons. This would limit the special provisions so far established for the registration and polling of security agents and would reduce the fear that registration in temporary places for IDPs would have negative consequences. A review of NEC regulations and procedures should be undertaken and amendments made accordingly.

Amendments to polling procedures should ensure that reconciliation is effective, i.e. that the number of names marked in the voter list be reconciled with the number of ballot papers issued.

All responsible electoral staff should be fully under the central management and fully accountable to the NEC in the application of a clear policy on causes for quarantining and removing from quarantine, and allowing re-counts or cancelling of whole or partial results. The process of auditing quarantined ballots or results should be treated as a counting process for the purpose of transparency and observation rights.

In order to guarantee the transparency of the establishment of election results, copies of the polling station election results should be made available to political party agents, candidate representatives and domestic.

Il apparaît nécessaire d’établir une méthodologie écrite du contrôle de régularité des résultats effectué par la Cour constitutionnelle. Les observateurs et représentants de candidats pourraient observer cette étape cruciale de vérification et de recomptage avant la proclamation des résultats définitifs.

Le vote par listes d’omis et le vote par procuration devraient être abolis. Les votes par dérogation devraient faire l’objet d’une formation rigoureuse auprès des membres des bureaux de vote afin que leur usage demeure réservé aux seuls électeurs autorisés à ce type de vote.