• The Electoral Commission (EC) has issued 10 strict campaign guidelines for the 8 nominated 2026 presidential candidates.
  • Rules include bans on bribery, hate speech, misuse of government facilities, late-night rallies, and campaigning in restricted public places.
  • Violators risk disqualification, fines of over UGX 30 million, or imprisonment, with EC vowing tighter enforcement throughout the campaign season.

Following the successful presidential nominations conducted by the Electoral Commission this week at its headquarters in Lweza-Lubowa, campaigns of the successful 8 presidential candidates are slated to begin on 29th September 2025 and end on 12th January 2026 with voting slated to take place in 15th January 2026.

Apparently the Electoral Commission passed out 10 strict guidelines that must be followed by all the shortlisted candidates so that they don’t risk disqualification.

First and foremost, no candidate is allowed to start campaigns before the EC officially announces the roadmap. Additionally, no candidate is allowed to campaign beyond the campaign date as designated by the commission.

All candidates are required to meet with the Electoral Commission and give their campaign roadmap in a harmonizing process. This is to avoid collusion of candidates in the same place at once which could lead to violence.

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Additionally, the EC stipulated to these candidates that no campaigning will be allowed in public places that provide essential services such as hospitals, roads, markets or schools. This is because many people use them and usage could affect service flow.

Meanwhile vehicles and soldiers given to candidates after their successful nomination are not their responsibility. This means that their responsibility. Their primary role is to escort them wherever they go. The car may not transport the candidate even if they’re stranded or even ordering the soldiers around.

The candidate is also directed to inform Police of wherever they are going to hold rallies. This is so that the security agencies can patrol the area and confirm it’s security before the candidate can go ahead.

Furthermore, no campaigns are allowed to go beyond 6pm. If a candidate is caught violating this directive, they could be disqualified.

A candidate is also supposed to show the Electoral Commission all the media houses that they will be visiting in their campaign trail. The media houses are also in turn supposed to confirm the particular candidates program.

No candidate is allowed to rely on hate speech, insults or abuse in their campaigns. Anyone caught fuelling ate speech on the basis or religion or ethnicity will undoubtedly be disqualified.

There also won’t be use of government facilities such as vehicles during the campaigns as this can also lead to the culprit being disqualified. Only President Museveni is permissible to use government vehicles in his campaign because he’s the sitting president and the Constitution allows him to.

Last, any candidate nabbed buying voters any gifts will be disqualified, forced to pay a fine of over 30m shillings, face jail or even face all the above. Therefore the use of money will be deemed as bribery and won’t be allowed.

These are some of the guidelines candidates will be required to follow although the EC is expected to give more directives. Agents of the different candidates converged yesterday to harmonize on the campaign road map at the EC Offices in Kampala although an official communication is yet to be passed on the resolution.