By The Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) has accused the Electoral Commission (EC) of conducting critical pre-election processes in secrecy, sidelining political stakeholders and raising doubts about the credibility of the 2026 General Election.
Alice Alaso, ANT’s National Coordinator, told journalists over the weekend that the party had submitted additional signatures to support its presidential nomination bid after being informed that 50 districts had fallen short of the legal requirement.
Latest
Police Seal Off Routes Ahead of Museveni and Bobi Wine’s Nomination Showdown
Police Blocks NUP Rally at Katwe Grounds, Clears Nateete Venue
Bobi Wine’s Nomination Pushed to September 24 Amid Claims of EC Bias
Bobi Wine’s Nomination Pushed to September 24 Amid Claims of EC Bias
Deaf Awareness Week to Spotlight Barriers in Education, Healthcare, and Jobs
NRM, PLU Unite to Back Museveni in 2026 Elections
UK warns Israel not to retaliate against Palestinian statehood push
“We were only given a report on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. It seems to me that the Electoral Commission understands that as long as it is not 5:00 p.m. on the 24th, it is still okay to bring signatures. So we have brought top-up signatures for the 50 districts they said fell short, plus an extra 11 districts,” Alaso said.
She added that ANT was continuing to collect more signatures to ensure full compliance, even planning to submit extra endorsements on nomination day if necessary.
Alaso, however, criticised the EC for what she described as an opaque verification process that undermines trust.
“If you are verifying my money in the bank, you make sure you verify it in such a way that I also see. But you don’t take it behind and say, your one million shillings is now 800,000. It sounds unbelievable. It is not participatory,” she argued.
According to Alaso, in past elections the EC would allow parties to deploy representatives during verification, ensuring transparency and credibility. This time, she said, the process had been conducted behind closed doors, forcing parties to simply accept the Commission’s word.
“Previously, the EC would call us and we would deploy a person there, and their reports were very believable because we also saw where we fell short. Unfortunately, now we are being made to believe that the signatures fell short. And now that we’ve accepted to believe, we brought them more signatures,” she added.
Despite the concerns, ANT confirmed it was still on track to nominate its presidential candidate and would “work with the EC the way it wants to work with partners.”
The development comes as several opposition parties, including NUP and FDC, have also expressed frustration with the verification of endorsement signatures, accusing the Commission of bias and deliberate attempts to frustrate opposition candidates ahead of nominations scheduled for September 23–24, 2025.
