EC CONCLUDES WOMEN COUNCIL ELECTION NOMINATIONS IN ARUA CITY

Osman Ezale, Electoral Commission Returning Officer for Arua City during an interview in his office (Photo by Onzoma Albert).

By Onzoma Albert

Arua City

The Electoral Commission Office in Arua City has successfully completed the nomination of candidates for the Women Councils and Committees Elections scheduled for Friday, August 28, 2026. Campaigns are set to run from August 25 to 27, just days before the election. The Women Councils operate through a decentralized, multi-tier framework—from the village level up to the national level—each managed by an executive committee responsible for coordinating activities, implementing decisions, and representing women’s interests to local authorities.

At the city level, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party was the sole party to fill all four candidate positions by press time, including Doreen Joy Adiru as Chairperson, Jamila Fungaro as Vice Chairperson, Shifa Ayikoru as Secretary for Finance, and Christine Maisha as Publicity Secretary.

Osman Ezale, the Electoral Commission Returning Officer for Arua City, indicated that if other political parties do not nominate candidates for these positions, the four NRM candidates will be declared unopposed.

“The four candidates nominated so far are all NRM candidates currently we are now not waiting for NRM candidates but other candidates from other political parties including independent candidates, if no any other will turn up by 5:00pm we shall close nominations and wait for declarations to be done on Friday 28^th of August 2026” he said.

Ezale, further explained that previous challenges faced by newly created cities with two divisions—such as limited participation—have been addressed by allowing 54 elected women council and committee chairpersons at the ward level in Arua City to vote and be voted for in the upcoming elections.

“Women council and committee chairpersons are supposed to vote and to be voted at the city level, however given the scenario where we had only two divisions meaning we had only two chairpersons plus female PDW chairperson, now commission has guided that we incorporate the chairpersons at ward level which means that there has been expanded from 3 to 57, all these people are eligible to contest or to be voters to propose and second” he added.

During the nomination process, candidates were required to present proposers and seconders, and the process was conducted free of charge. The elected women council and committee chairpersons at both city and district levels will automatically qualify to participate in the national women council elections, where they will have voting rights.

Women councils and committees serve as statutory grassroots administrative structures designed to organize women, promote their active participation in leadership, and champion gender-responsive development.

These structures bring women together at local and national levels to foster unity, address common challenges, and build collective strength, thus empowering women and ensuring their active role in community development.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis