Oyam North by-election: NRM’s Engola, UPC’s Apio leading
Vote tallying is ongoing at Oyam District Headquarters. The exercise is being conducted by Mr Richard Onoba, the Electoral Commission Returning Officer for Oyam District. Photo/Charity Akullo
What you need to know:
- While the results were trickling in, only UPC's Apio was present at the Tally Centre in Oyam District Council Hall.
Preliminary results which trickled in showed that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Samuel Engola Okello Junior, was running neck-to –neck with UPC’s Dr Eunice Apio.
The first set of results announced by the Electoral Commission showed that the ruling party candidate, also the son of the late former Oyam North Member of Parliament was leading in Iceme Sub-county and Iceme Town Council.
Iceme Sub-county and Iceme Town Council are part of the eight administrative units that make up Oyam North Constituency. Mr Engola comes from Awangi Village in Iceme Sub-county, a likely reason he got majority of the votes from the two administrative units.
Unlike in the past where people would vote along party lines, this time, it was more of home affairs.
Dr Apio of the opposition Uganda People’s Congress, UPC was leading in all the polling stations from Aleka and Otwal sub-counties.
Aleka, Dr Apio’s birthplace, was carved out of Otwal.
For instance, at Baromo Primary School in Aleka Sub-county, the UPC candidate fetched 304 votes against Engola’s 128. At Cuke Market Polling Station, Dr Otuko garnered 223 votes, while Mr Engola obtained 106 votes. At Aboloneno Polling Station, UPC candidate managed 174 votes against NRM’s Engola’s 71 votes.
At Pukuca Trading Centre, Dr Apio got 137 votes while Mr Engola Junior got 58 votes.
Also, in Acaba Sub-county, Dr Apio was leading from most of the polling stations.
The two candidates were sharing votes almost equally from Oyam Town Council and Ngai Sub-county, while Mr Newton Freddy Okello of Forum for Democratic Change was losing in all the polling stations from Ngai.
FDC candidate and NUP’s Daniel Okello were each obtaining not more than 10 votes from all the polling stations whose results were trickling in this evening.
In Oyam Town Council, Dr Apio got Mr Engola at Telemoon Polling Station with 108 against Engola’s 95. At Yamiyon, the NRM candidate got 51 votes against Dr Apio’s 83 votes.
At Ngai Sub-county, Mr Engola obtained 143 votes, while Dr Apio polled 120 votes. At Ngai SS polling station, Mr Engola got 106 votes while Dr. Apio managed to get 56 votes.
While the results were trickling in, only UPC's Apio was present at the Tally Centre in Oyam District Council Hall.
The room is mainly occupied by Electoral Commission officials, journalists and a handful of candidates’ agents.
Before the EC started tallying the votes, NRM supporters took to the street at around 5pm and started celebrating the outcome of their ‘sweat’. They were driving vehicles and riding motorcycles in Oyam Town, particularly in front of Oyam Central Police Station.
“To be honest, I feel it is still too early for this kind of celebration since the UPC candidate is giving us a lot of headache,” an NRM supporter told Monitor.
There are 90,733 registered voters in Oyam North constituency. Of these, 47,939 (52.83%) are females while 42,794 (47.17%) are males. There are 39 parishes and wards in Oyam North.
The position for the directly-elected Member of Parliament, Oyam County North Constituency, fell vacant as a result of the death of the former legislator Col (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola.
Pte Wilson Sabiiti, a military guard, shot the minister dead at his home in Kyanja, a Kampala suburb, on May 2.
