National Election 2016

As the country prepared for the 2016 general election period, CSOs and political parties continued to advocate for more representative political systems that would allow for enhanced participation and increased accountability.

The Citizens’ Election Observation Network-Uganda (CEON-U), a citizen election observer coalition of local CSOs, monitored the 2016 electoral process in Uganda between September, 2015 and June 2016, covering the pre-election, election day and post-election periods. Overall, few observers reported witnessing or hearing reports of violence against women in the pre-election period. On election day, of the incidents of violence that were reported, observers reported more incidents of violence against voters than against any other group.

CEON-U and the CSO members of the coalition worked to engage citizens at the local level as part of their public outreach, complementing the work CEON-U undertook to monitor the electoral processes.

BEFORE THE ELECTION

CEON-U included specific questions about VAW-E in their systematic long term observation in the pre-electoral period of Uganda's 2015 elections.

Over 200 observers were deployed throughout the country, and reported their findings every week for several months, giving a great depth to the data collected. Several specific questions about VAW-E were part of this observation and reporting, including the following: Have you witnessed or heard of hate speech, violence or intimidation against candidates or their supporters because they are women?

CEON also disaggregated other questions about electoral violence by gender. While few observers reported witnessing or hearing reports of violence against poll officials, for example, the reported violent incidents in the pre-election period targeting election officials affected an equal percentage of men and women observers

Have you witnessed or heard of attacks or intimidation of election officials?

98% of CEON-U’s observers reported that they had not witnessed or heard of any attacks against election officials, including acts of intimidation.

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Have you witnessed or heard of hate speech, violence or intimidation against candidates or their supporters because they are women?

CEON-U trained observers to report on hate speech, violence and intimidation against women candidates and their supporters. Of the reports received, only 8% of observers reported any acts of this gender-based violence.

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ELECTION DAY

As part of their monitoring efforts, observers monitored reports of attacks on or intimidation of election officials, disaggregating the data by gender.

Observers who were part of CEON's observation on election day observed more incidents of violence against voters than against any other group, although election officials were also a significant portion of victims of observed incidents of violence. Of the types of violent incidents that were observed, there were some differences between whether victims were men, women, or involved victims of both genders. Overwhelmingly, perpetrators of violent incidents were men.

Uganda Election Day Gender Demographics

One question that CEON’s observers were asked to report on was the breakdown of polling officials by gender: 27% of the officials at the polling stations observed were women.

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Uganda Incidents of Violence at the National Level

Of the incidents that were reported by observers, 38% targeted voters, while 31% were against election officials, 23% were against party agents, and 8% were against observers.

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Uganda Election Day Victims

Of the reported incidents of violence, men were more likely to be targeted by harassment and violence than women; while women were more likely than men to be targeted by impersonation. In all categories, mixed-gender groups were the most frequently targeted.

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Uganda Election Day Perpetrators

Of the incidents of violence that were reported by observers, the perpetrators were most likely to be men, regardless of the type of violence observed.

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ABOUT THE OBSERVATION

In its pre-election observation, CEON-U deployed 223 long-term observers in all 112 districts of Uganda. These observers reported every week for several months, giving a wide span of longitudinal data. In total, CEON-U deployed 900 observers, with 700 participating in the election day observation.