The National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party has cautioned the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to quickly work on the electoral reforms before the 2026 general elections to avoid chaos and loss of lives during and after elections.

During the party’s weekly press release that took place on August 5, 2024, at the party headquarters in Rubaga, Kampala, the party National Organizing Secretary, Godfrey Ssentumba, revealed that the IEC has started training people to demarcate polling stations, which he said was a good move but noted that it will not be of help if urgent electoral reforms are not worked on.

“We, as NEED, agree with the demarcation of polling stations, but it’s not the right time for that. The IEC should first resolve the urgent electoral reforms to avoid violent elections. We cannot afford to get into elections when the military still involves itself in the country’s politics, when opposition members are being abducted, and when the chairman of the Electoral Commission is still being appointed by the President of the country. These are urgent reforms that should be solved,” he noted.

Ssentumba added that it’s high time a national dialogue be organized for the country to figure out what kind of election the country is heading to and of what quality it will be.

“We call upon all citizens, politicians, civil societies, and religious leaders to come out for a national dialogue and be voices of those who cannot be heard. We should make sure that in the next elections no blood shed should be seen like that which was witnessed in the last elections,” he added.

This comes after the Independent Electoral Commission released the 2025/26 election roadmap, with its first activity being the demarcation of electoral areas and organizing polling stations that started on July 30, 2024.