NRM sweeps village elections
NRM supporters lift Eliab Kwiragira after emerging winner in the Rwabaganga Village elections in Isingiro District on Tuesday. Photo by Felix Ainebyoona
Kampala- The ruling NRM party has said they won majority Local Council chairperson seats in the just concluded village election.
According to a press statement released by the NRM Secretariat yesterday, the popularity of the party has continued to grow despite heavy criticism from Opposition politicians.
“Provisional results so far available indicate that the ruling National Resistance Movement swept the majority of the villages in the LC1 elections conducted yesterday (Tuesday). The results as retrieved by our tally centre illustrate the party’s increasing popularity countrywide despite the endless criticism from the Opposition leaders,” the statement reads in part.
Victories
To demonstrate this, the NRM said they won numerous LCI chairperson seats countrywide, including “at the backyard” of the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Ms Winnie Kiiza, and Budadiri West MP Nandala Mafabi’s village.
“In Kasese, the home district of the Opposition leader in Parliament, Winnie Kiiza, NRM got 481 out of 753 villages. The Opposition combined, collected less than half of NRM,” the party stated.
With 56 villages pending, the NRM also won in Rukungiri District where Opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye hails from with 444 chairpersons, followed by the Opposition and Independents’ 231.
Earlier in a press briefing on Tuesday evening, the NRM secretary general, Ms Justine Kasule Lumumba, told journalists that the preliminary results from 42 districts indicated that the party had won 7,224 of the 10,798 villages.
“As NRM, we have reason to celebrate. Congratulations to Uganda, congratulations to the NRM supporters. Though the Electoral Commission is the one to announce official results but our tallying centre’s preliminary results in 42 districts shows how we are winning,” Ms Lumumba said.
She also said NRM had won majority of the LC1 seats in the largely Opposition Central Division of Kampala with 120 out of 135 cells.
Oppostion reaction
The LoP, Ms Winnie Kiiza, said NRM claiming majority of the LC1 seats in Kasese [and other Opposition strongholds] does not mean Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party has lost ground. “NRM should not jump over the roof to celebrate victory in Kasese.
Most of the LC1 chairpersons who were voted were in the same offices when we were elected to Parliament and they had no impact. FDC is in charge of Kasese as usual,” Ms Kiiza said.
She blamed the EC for not having done enough civic education to educate voters about the electoral process which made most of them miss out on the village registers.
