Ugandans in more than 71,000 villages across the country are today, Tuesday, July 28, 2026, voting to elect new Local Council One (LC1) chairpersons in the first such elections to be held after years of postponements.
A total of 71,214 villages are participating in the exercise, following repeated extensions of the tenure of current LC1 leaders by Parliament due to funding constraints that delayed fresh elections.
Uganda last held nationwide LC1 elections on July 10, 2018. Those polls were the first village-level elections in 17 years, following the previous LC1 elections held in 2001.
Since then, Parliament has extended the tenure of LC1 leaders six consecutive times, with each extension lasting six months.
Uganda’s Local Council system dates back to 1986, when President Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement introduced the then Resistance Councils to promote community participation in local governance.
The first elections under the system were held in 1989 using the lining-up voting method, where voters stand behind the candidate of their choice. The same method continues to be used in today’s elections.
The country has experienced lengthy gaps between LC1 elections, making today’s exercise an important step in renewing leadership at the village level across Uganda.
According to the Electoral Commission, polling begins with the assembly and verification of voters from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., followed by voter education and briefing from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Voting and the counting of votes will take place between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., after which results are expected to be declared by 12:00 noon. From 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., the newly elected chairpersons will oversee the nomination and approval of members of their respective village executive committees.
The elections are expected to strengthen grassroots governance, with the newly elected LC1 chairpersons assuming responsibility for the lowest level of local government administration, community mobilization, and dispute resolution.
