NRM rigged Hoima woman MP by-election, says FDC’s Amuriat

The Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has rejected results from the just concluded Hoima District Woman MP by-election on grounds that the ruling National Resistance Movement rigged.
The NRM candidates in both Hoima and Kaabong woman MP by-elections were on Friday morning declared winners after beating their contenders from the FDC.
In Hoima, Ms Harriet Businge was declared winner with 33,301 votes beating her contender Ms Asanansi Nyakato of FDC who polled 28,789 votes.

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NRM wins Hoima, Kaabong woman MP seats

In Hoima, Ms Harriet Businge was declared winner with 33,301 votes beating her contender Ms Asanansi Nyakato of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) who polled 28,789 votes

In Kaabong District, Ms Christine Tubo Nakwang of NRM won overwhelmingly with 22,532 votes while her contender Ms Judith Nalibe Adyaka of FDC got only 1,692 out of 26,189 total number of ballot papers counted.
However, the FDC party president Mr Patrick Amuriat said there was “extensive electoral malpractices by NRM that marred the electoral exercise during the campaign and climaxing on the voting day.”
“The excessive brutality by the military against our supporters and massive outright rigging through ballot stuffing using pre ticked ballots and falsifying results just reinforces the mockery to democracy that come with every election organized by the NRM junta. This makes the credibility of the outcome questionable,” he said in a statement.

Mr Amuriat further noted that the party plans to petition against the electoral results.
“In the next few hours after our field teams have come up with a concrete dossier of malpractices, we will be taking a decision on our next course of action, most probably petitioning against the result of this election,” he added.
In his statement on Friday morning, President Museveni congratulated the MP-elects before he added that the people of Bunyoro had chosen to consolidate the NRM achievements, by voting pro-development MP while the people of Kaabong had elected the NRM candidate despite the lies from the Opposition.

“The people of Hoima, mwebale muno, thank you for voting the National Resistance Movement, and my daughter Harriet Mugenyi. You have chosen to consolidate the NRM achievements, by voting a pro-development MP. Our people of Kaabong, Alakara nooi, you have shown that even with the lies from the Opposition, you know where the light is. I congratulate My daughter Tubo Christine Nakwang for winning the woman MP by-election. I also congratulate the NRM structures in the two districts for doing a good job and delivering these victories. The NRM is stronger than ever and its vision is correct," Mr Museveni said.

However, electoral observers said although the level of vigilance was high, there is a likelihood that allegations and realities of occurrences such as circulation of pre-ticked ballot papers in favour of the NRM candidate (on polling day), arrests of agents from the Opposition parties and the partisan involvement of some security agents to the point of attempting to subvert the will of the people in some areas within Hoima, affected the election and how it later turned out to be.

“Whereas the opposition parties and formations benefited a great deal from uniting behind a single candidate, the NRM leveraged its access to (and use of) state resources including government vehicles, and public officers to campaign for, and get the NRM candidate announced as winner in the Hoima District Woman MP By-election,” said Mr Crispin Kaheru, the Coordinator for Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU).
According to to Mr Kaheru, candidates’ agents, supporters, and ordinary citizens played a key role in exposing some of the issues that afflicted the election.