Electoral Commission starts demarcation of new polling stations.

By; Olivia Nabaggala

31^st Aug 2020

The demarcation and re-organisation of new polling stations in the newly created parliamentary constituencies and local government electoral areas for the 2021 General Election starts today August 31, 2020.

In a statement by the Electoral Commission (EC) released yesterday, the EC chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, said the demarcation of 46 new constituencies and 180 town councils and sub-counties starts today and will end on September 4.

The activities will involve conducting consultative meetings with stakeholders in each district to confirm administrative units that constitute the counties, city divisions and municipalities and defining boundaries of these units. This will form the primary data for the demarcation of the parliamentary constituencies.

In July, Parliament approved the creation of more 46 constituencies pushing the number of directly elected MPs to 353 in the next Parliament. There are 461 MPs, including the ex-officials in the 10th Parliament, and the creation of new districts, cities and counties will add more MPs.

Currently, 11 new districts which came on board between 2018 and 2019 have no district Woman MPs because the EC had no money for elections. The seven new cities proposed to begin in July next year will also have a Woman MP and an additional constituency created. These changes will add a total of 29 seats in the next Parliament.

Paul Bukenya, the EC spokesperson, said the EC will also conduct the re-organisation of polling stations in the affected parishes/wards in 180 newly-created counties/sub-counties which are located in various parts of the country.