NRM orders fresh elections in over 50 Pallisa villages
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Meanwhile in Tororo, voters have demanded the declaration of the winner of the party primary elections for the district Woman MP seat
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has ordered fresh elections in 54 polling stations in Pallisa where rigging was reported during party primaries for the flag bearer for the district chairperson seat.
The candidates in the race for the NRM flag are Mr John Micheal Okurut (the incumbent), Mr Patrick Ducu, Mr Louis Opange, Mr Joseph Okoboi and Mr David Apuwa.
Mr John Arimpa Kigyagi, the deputy chairperson of the NRM electoral commission, said on Tuesday that they have opted to repeat elections in the villages after candidates cited mass irregularities.
“There will be a repeat in the 54 villages because we cannot manage to repeat elections in the whole district as suggested by the candidates,” he said.
Mr Ducu, one of the candidates, told Daily Monitor on Wednesday that he was robbed of victory, arguing that most of the polling stations where the elections will be repeated had given him a block vote.
Mr Okoboi, another candidate, said if he fails to go through in the re-election, he will still come back as an independent candidate.
However, the district NRM chairperson, Mr George Oule Omoding, urged the candidates to remain calm and wait for results of the re-election in the contested villages.
Meanwhile in Tororo, voters have demanded the declaration of the winner of the party primary elections for the district Woman MP seat.
The voters made their demand before Mr Kigyagi on Wednesday. He was visiting the area to ascertain how elections were conducted two weeks ago.
The main contenders for the seat are State minister for Minerals Sarah Opendi and Ms Jacinta Ayo. According to the preliminary results, Ms Opendi got more votes from Tororo County but she lost to Ms Ayo in West Budama County.
Ms Opendi accused the party EC of failing to vet the integrity of their registrars that they entrusted to manage the elections process.
“It is abnormal for the commission to take over two weeks without announcing the outcome of results,” she said.
However, Mr Kigyagi attributed the delay to announce the winner on the submission of photocopied declaration forms by the candidates, which he said the commission cannot rely on.
He also added that in some areas, candidates bribed registrars and bought declaration forms, which they used to doctor results.
