Section 20: Registration of voters

(1) A person who- (a) is a citizen of Uganda; and (b) is eighteen years of age or above, shall apply to be registered as a voter in a parish or ward where the person originates or resides. (2) No person shall be qualified to vote at an election if that person is not registered as a voter in accordance with Article 59 of the Constitution. (3) Subject to this Act, a voter has a right to vote in the parish or ward where he or she is registered. (4) Subject to subsection (1), if a registered voter wishes to vote in a parish or ward other than the one in which he or she is registered, the voter shall apply to transfer his or her registration to the parish or ward where the voter wishes to vote, except that the parish or ward shall be one where the voter - (a) originates from; or (b) resides. (5) A transfer under subsection (4) may only be effected during any period when the Voters Register is being revised or updated. (6) Where a transfer is effected under subsection (4)- (a) the voter shall surrender the voters card issued to him or her at the polling station at which he or she was previously registered and shall have his or her name struck off the voters roll for that station; and (b) where the transfer is effected to a polling station within a different constituency from the one in which the voter was previously registered, he or she shall have his name struck off the voters roll for the constituency in which he or she was previously registered. (7) When updating the Voters Register, the Commission shall, by statutory instrument, update it to a date appointed in accordance with subsection (8) as the date on which the updating shall end. (8) Where elections are to be held by the Commission, the statutory instrument referred to in subsection (7) appointing the date on which updating shall end shall be made- (a) in the case of all general elections, by the Commission; (b) in the case of a by-election for election to Parliament, constituency members of Parliament, district women representatives or representatives of special interest groups, by the Minister; and (c) in the case of a by-election to local government councils or committees, by the Commission.