Isingiro NRM candidate loses election petition 

High  Court in Mbarara  yesterday declared Isingiro West MP Rauben Arinaitwe as validly elected to represent Isingiro West in the 11th Parliament.
This comes after the dismissal of  National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, Mr Anthony Tumwesgiye’s poll petition.
Mr Tuwmesigye  had challenged Mr Arinaitwe’s victory  on grounds that the Electoral Commission did not comply with the electoral laws which  allegedly affected the results in a substantial manner.

 Mr Arinaitwe, who was competing with three other candidates was declared winner with 7,992 votes followed by  Tumwesigye who garnered 7,975 votes while Emmanuel Byamugisha Rwabishari garnered 3,741 votes and Apophia Agiresaasi got 262 votes.
Having lost the January 14 election, Mr Tumwesigye applied for a vote recount at Chief Magistrate’s Court in Isingiro District but the application was dismissed.
 Mr Tumwesigye had  asked the court to declare him winner or order the Electoral Commission to organise fresh elections.

Ruling
 But Justice Moses Kawumi Kazibwe dismissed the case with costs arguing that the anomalies raised in the petition did not affect the polling exercise.
“All the anomalies in the cited case did not manifest in the polling exercise for Isingiro West constituency. A slim winning margin between the two contenders per se cannot be the sole reason to annul the election. The whole electoral process has to be assessed against the one failure to conduct elections at two polling stations out of the 71 in the constituency, ”  Justice Kazibwe stated in his judgment  read by the acting Deputy Registrar Samuel Twakyire.

Justice Kazibwe  added: “Petitioner (Tumwesigye) failed on a balance of probabilities and to the satisfaction of this court to prove that the winning majority of the respondent would have been reduced in such a way as to put the victory of the election in doubt.”
Mr Arinaitwe  welcomed the court decision and called upon the people of Isingiro West to unite for the development of the constituency.

“I am very excited about the court ruling but I call upon the people of Isingiro to join me for the development of our constituency. But I will need to ask him (Tumwesigye) for the costs because the money I spent on the petition would have worked for the people of Isingiro West”
But Mr Collins Nuwagaba,  Mr Tumwesigye’s  lawyer, poked holes in the judgement and asked their client to give permit them to appeal.

“The judgment was delivered, we have heard it but I think it had so many loopholes. What we are waiting for are instructions from our client because we have not agreed with the decision of the court,” Mr Nuwagaba said.
He added: “If this case goes on appeal, we shall succeed and we are sure we will succeed. What we are waiting for is confirmation from our client as to whether we should proceed and appeal.”