Uganda initiates regulatory changes for mandatory biometric voter verification

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of Uganda, Norbert Mao, has assured that efforts are ongoing on regulatory changes to pave the way for the introduction of compulsory biometric voter verification during the country’s 2026 general elections.

Mao, speaking recently in front of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, held that making biometric verification mandatory during elections could help curb many of the electoral irregularities the country has suffered in the past.

The minister, who supervises the Electoral Commission, was speaking in parliament as his ministry was asking for additional funding, on top of the 201 billion shilling (US$ 54 million) already allocated to it for the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

“We need to procure machines with specifications to ensure that the part which stores data is embedded and cannot be detached. So, I can authoritatively say that the next election will be based on biometric voter verification,” Mao told the committee, per a report by NTV Uganda.

While Uganda’s current electoral law doesn’t allow for biometric verification at the polling station, the Justice Minister said the government is proposing the necessary changes which shall be tabled in parliament for examination and eventual approval.

“The Cabinet put in place a committee chaired by the Hon Chris Baryomunsi [current ICT Minister]. Now, he is coming with his report, which means the bill is alive again. I believe that before the end of this month, Cabinet will quickly approve it and then we bring it [here],” Mao informed the committee members.

Despite assurance of progress in efforts to introduce mandatory biometric verification, some of the lawmakers criticized Mao’s ministry over inertia and delays in implementing important electoral reforms ahead of 2026.

The move by the Ugandan government to introduce biometric voter verification comes after claims made last year by the country’s President Yoweri Museveni that the opposition National Union Platform Party stole about a million of his votes during the 2021 presidential election.

Biometric machines were used in those elections but system failures forced electoral commission staff to resort to manual voter verification which also slowed down operations. The Electoral Commission later defended itself, saying that the failures were isolated incidents.

Now, Museveni believes that the biometric verification system be made mandatory and be fully integrated into the electoral process in order to prevent occurrences like ballot stuffing, double voting, and impersonation.

Meanwhile, in view of the planned changes, the Electoral Commission says it would require more funding to procure new biometric verification machines, because the biometric gear it has borrowed from state agencies like the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) in previous exercises, have faced major glitches and other functionality problems.

In the meantime, the Electoral Commission has announced that biometric voter registration ahead of the elections will commence on April 17, as reported by Nile Post.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  elections  |  identity verification  |  legislation  |  Uganda  |  voter registration