Studies of electoral violence are dominated by large n studies which rely upon news accounts of violent incidents as source data. Limitations of this type of data include over representing high profile public acts of violence that draw the attention of the media, rather than documenting a more representative sample of the range of violence that occurs during elections, including in private or domestic spaces. Large n studies also suffer from a lack of specificity in the descriptive information available about the incident, including key characteristics of perpetrators and targets, such as political candidates. This paper seeks to address some of these shortcomings. It identifies and assesses motives for, and patterns of violence, harassment, and intimidation against candidates and agents in local district elections in Uganda, paying particular attention to interactions between gender and other factors in predicting violence. It draws upon data gathered in the field in 2018 in three electoral districts in eastern and northern Uganda. Data consist of survey responses, focus group responses, and key informant interviews. Female candidates and agents are oversampled in the data. The data document types and patterns of violence during the 2016 and 2018 election cycles (pre-election campaign period, election day, and post- election). The analyses consider the following contextual variables: if the violence occurred during the primary or general election; if the election was for an open seat, or included an incumbent; and if the seat was a women’s quota seat or not. Characteristics of the incident (individual v. group/gang violence) and individual level characteristics of perpetrators and targets including sex/gender, age, incumbency status, ethnic minority status, individual or group/gang violence are examined in relation to types and patterns of violence.
