The opposition National Economic Empowerment Dialogue Party (NEED) has criticized the Electoral Commission for rolling out the road map for the 2026 general elections before the government implements the electoral reforms.

While addressing the press on Monday, August 7th, 2023, at the party headquarters in Rubaga division, Asuman Odaka, the NEED party Secretary General, tasked EC to pay attention to electoral reforms ahead of the 2026 elections and involve all the stakeholders.

“Currently, there is no attention to electoral reforms; therefore, we are going into an election that leaves the country divided. Many political parties didn’t attend the launch because there were no engagements with the EC. The engagement would have been when the process of drafting was taking place, not only this calling us to read their program,” said Odaka.

Last week, the EC Chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, released the road map at Hotel Africana and appealed to the government to consider and approve the creation of new administrative units in a timely manner so that the electoral program and budget are not destabilized.

The nomination of candidates for the 2026 presidential campaigns is set to take place between October 2 and October 3, 2025.