The Electoral Commission has noted the concerns of various stakeholders about the condition (broken seals) of some polling kits which were delivered to districts. The Commission has established that seals on some of the polling kits broke during the transportation from the Commission’s main warehouse in Kampala to the respective district facilities.
The breakage is a result of impact of stacked metal boxes sealed with plastic seals, pressing against each other during transportation. As a measure to ensure integrity and transparency of the process, stakeholders in the respective districts are briefed before the offloading begins. Any box found with a broken seal gets replaced and the serial numbers of both the old and new seals are recorded. This is done after ascertaining that the contents of the polling kit are all intact.
The Commission assures all stakeholders that the polling kit remains sealed up to the time of delivery at the polling station were the Presiding Officer will open it, on the morning of the polling day in the presence of 10 registered voters at the respective polling station.
Political parties and candidates are urged to appoint agents to observe the safe custody of the polling kit, until the same is delivered to the respective polling stations on polling day.