General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1995)

• Section 1, subsection (4) states, “The people shall express their will and consent on who shall govern them and how they should be governed, through regular, free and fair elections of their representatives or through referenda.”
• Section 59, subsection (1) states, “Every citizen of Uganda of eighteen years of age or above has a right to vote.”

Specific Inclusion of People with Disabilities
Constitution
(1995)
National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy

• Section XVI states, “Society and the State shall recognize the right of persons with disabilities to respect and human dignity.”

The Constitution

• Section 35 states, "(1) Persons with disabilities have a right to respect and human dignity and the State and society shall take appropriate measures to ensure that they realize their full mental and physical potential. (2) Parliament shall enact laws appropriate for the protection of persons with disabilities."
• Section 78, subsection (1) states, “Parliament shall consist of...(c) such numbers of representatives of the army, youth, workers, persons with disabilities and other groups as Parliament may determine.”

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution
(1995)

• Section 80, subsection (2) states: "A person not qualified for election as a member of Parliament if that person (a) is of unsound mind..."
• Section 102 states, “A person is not qualified for election as President unless that person is...(c) a person qualified to be a member of Parliament.”

Electoral Law
Presidential Elections Act
(2005)

• Section 4 states, “(1) Subject to clause (7) of article 15 of the Constitution, a person is not qualified for election as President unless that person is- (c) a person qualified to be a member of Parliament....(4) a person is not qualified for election as a member of Parliament if that person (a) is of unsound mind.”
• The form entitled “Nomination of Presidential Candidate, Registered Voters Supporting Candidate” requires that a signatory certify, “7. I have not been adjudged or otherwise declared ...(ii) to be of unsound mind under any law in force in Uganda.”

Parliamentary Elections Act
(2005)

• Section 4, subsection (2) states, “A person is not qualified for election as a member of Parliament if that person...(a) is of unsound mind.”

Voter Assistance
Constitution
(1995)

• Section 59, subsection (4) states, “Parliament shall make laws to provide for the facilitation of citizens with disabilities to register and vote.”

Electoral Law
Presidential Elections Act
(2005)

• Section 30, subsection (1) states, “Every polling station shall, as far as possible be located in an open ground or where there is no open ground, in large premises of convenient access having an outside door for the admittance of voters, and, if possible, another door through which voters may leave after voting and the polling station shall, as far as possible, be such as to facilitate access by persons with disabilities and the aged.”
• Section 31, subsection (7) states, “Where for the purposes of subsection (5)(d) (a) the voter has no thumb on the right hand, the process specified in that paragraph shall be applied to the finger nearest to the position of the thumb on the voter’s right hand; (b) the voter has no right hand, the process shall be applied to the left hand; (c) a voter has no fingers on the left or right hand, the voter may dip the tip of any hand into the indelible ink; or (d) the voter has no hands, the process shall be applied to any other conspicuous part of the voter’s body as a polling assistant may determine.”
• Section 38 states...
• “Where a voter is by reason of blindness, illiteracy, old age or any other disability unable to fix the authorized mark of choice on the ballot paper, that voter may report at the polling station accompanied by a person of his or her choice to assist the voter to fix the authorized mark of choice on the ballot paper if necessary, on the voter’s behalf; or the voter may, subject to sub section (4), request another person present at the polling station to assist that voter for the purpose
• It shall be lawful for any member of the voter’s family to assist a voter under subsection 91) notwithstanding the fact that the former is below the age of eighteen years.
• A person shall not assist more than one voter to vote under subsection (1) in the election.
• A presiding officer shall refuse to allow a person to assist a voter to vote unless that officer is satisfied that it is permitted under subsection (1).
• An election officer, a candidate’s agent or an observer at any polling station is not permitted to assist any voter with disability under subsection ().
• A person who is not authorized to assist any voter to mark the ballot paper under subsection (1) unless the voter has voluntarily requested the assistance”

Parliamentary Elections Act

• Section 29, subsection (1) contains the same provisions as Section 30, subsection (1) of the Presidential Elections Act.
• Section 30, subsection (7) contains the same provisions as Section 31, subsection (7) of the Presidential Elections Act.
• Section 37 contains the same provisions as section 38 of the Presidential Elections Act.

Off-Site Voting
Electoral Law
Presidential Elections Act

• Section 39, subsection (1) states, “The Commission may make special provision for the taking of the votes of patients in hospitals, or persons admitted in sanatoria or homes for the aged and similar institutions and also for persons in restricted areas such as soldier and other security personnel, but the Commission shall publish in the Gazette a list of the restricted areas under this section.”
• Section 38, subsection (1) contains the same provisions as Section 39, subsection (1) of the Presidential Elections Act.

• Constitution - http://www.ugandaembassy.com/Constitution_of_Uganda.pdf
• Presidential Elections Act - http://www.eueom.eu/files/dmfile/PresidentialElections_Act2005_en.pdf
• Parliamentary Elections Act - http://www.eueom.eu/files/dmfile/Parliamentary_Elections_Act2005_en.pdf