)
The minister, who also doubles as Democratic Party president, made the revelation while addressing journalists on Tuesday, September 26, 2023. He said that the electronic voting system would ensure free and fair elections.
“I took proposals to the Cabinet to make electronic voting compulsory. It is a very radical idea in a democratic country,” Mao said.
Mao told journalists that President Museveni embraced the idea when it was presented to him and asked Ugandans to embrace the technological approach to voting.
“Electronic voting means voters will use finger prints but also other biometric methods, which include eyelids and face technology, so that when one arrives at the polling station, the machine is sure of that person,” he said.
)
)
)
Mao said that individuals will go with their voter slips, which have barcodes, and put the code on the machine to confirm. He said that with electronic voting, nobody can use someone else’s voter locator slip.
Political observers have since come out to give their views on this new development. The executive director for the Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), Sarah Bireete, told this website that the move is good because it may help improve voter participation. She, however, said it may not solve free and fair elections concerns that have been around for years.
Eron Kiiza, a lawyer, said that free and fair elections can only be achieved through the personal values of the people contesting for the country’s top office. He also shared Bireete’s view that it may only help in improving the participation of Ugandans.