The Uganda Young Democrats (UYD), the youth wing of the Democratic Party, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Electoral Commission (EC), demanding it to address more than ten petitions challenging the legitimacy of the party’s recent delegates’ conference held in Mbarara.

Speaking to the media in a statement released on Monday, July 14, 2025,  UYD president Ismail Kiirya described the June conference as “fraudulent” and accused the EC of failing to act on multiple complaints filed by senior party leaders and district chairpersons.

“Following the fraudulent DP delegates conference held in Mbarara last month, the commission received over 10 petitions from aggrieved party leaders and district chairpersons requesting for its intervention,” Kiirya said.

Among those who reportedly filed complaints are Dr Lulume Bayiga, Hon Ssebamala, Basil Lawrence, Hon Alitia, and several district-level leaders.

The petitioners allege that the conference was based on illegal constitutional amendments filed with the EC, which they say were forged and never discussed at the previous delegates’ conference held in Gulu.

Kiirya cited Article 15, Section 3(b) of the Political Parties and Organizations Act, accusing the EC of “paying a deaf ear” to petitions that predated and followed the Mbarara conference.

He further claimed the EC is under political pressure to ignore the petitions entirely.

“We now have reliable information from credible sources that the Electoral Commission is under pressure from higher authorities, especially the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, to throw all the DP petitions in their dustbin without any fair hearing,” Kiirya stated.

The UYD president also accused the current DP leadership of soliciting money from candidates intending to run on the party’s ticket, despite questions over the legitimacy of the current leadership and the lack of official gazettement.

“They are extorting money from candidates who they will later throw out without any reason after eating their money, just like it happened in Mbarara,” he said.

Kiirya warned that failure by the EC to act within the set timeframe could force UYD to take unspecified action.

“We want to see the Electoral Commission exercise the independence and impartiality it claims to hold. In light of the above, we hereby issue an ultimatum of seven days… failure of which we shall not take the blame for our next course of action,” he concluded.

The Electoral Commission had not responded to the ultimatum by press time.