KAMPALA–Barely a day after the court blocked Local Council elections which were to kick off today, the Democratic Party(DP), Uganda’s longest political party, claims NRM government is behind the plot.
DP believes the ruling NRM party realized that it was going to lose the LC elections and mulled ways of blocking the polls.
“We know James Tweheyo as an NRM cadre and we got information that he was assigned to file a case in court blocking the LC elections,” Alex Waiswa, the deputy spokesperson of DP, alleged.
Tweheyo filed an application challenging the holding of LC elections in absence of Advanced secondary school students.
Tweheyo said if elections were held, it would have disenfranchise the Constitutional rights of students who are eligible to participate.
Currently, A level students are sitting their final exams, until December 8. Women council elections were supposed to kick off today while elections for LC1 chairpersons were to be held next week.
The elections had been set to run from November 14 up to November 21, for all local council committees.
A cross the country, the locals were gearing up to vote for their preferred candidates by lining up. This system has been challenged and some NGOs are in court challenging it.
Waiswa also said NRM party decided to use the legal path to delay electing the local leaders because it had lost the ground.
“Togikwatako is really affecting NRM party. Many LC candidates prefer contesting as opposition or independent candidates but on NRM party ticket,” Waiswa argued.
Uhuru Salim, the NRM party chairman Kampala central, refuted Waiswa’s claims, saying his party has registered over 1,000 candidates in Kampala, contesting for LC seats.
