{UAH} Uganda rights group receives hundreds of complaints from women about vote | Reuters

KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A control center set up in Uganda to monitor violence against women and other obstacles preventing women from voting in last week's presidential election said it had received nearly 600 complaints.

Delays to the opening of polls in the Feb. 18 vote was the main complaint received by the Women's Situation Room, and most of those reports were in and around the capital, Kampala, said Jessica Nkuuhe, the center's national coordinator.

"The delays turned off most women from exercising their rights to vote," Nkuuhe told Thomson Reuters Foundation after the election.

"As the delays continued, more women left the voting queues to return home and attend to their domestic duties."

Voters complained of delays in delivery of ballot materials on Thursday, especially in areas seen as opposition strongholds. The government also shut down social media sites as voters cast their ballots under the gaze of police and soldiers in riot gear.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0VV24V

Sincerely,

Brian M. Kwesiga