HOIMA —Electoral Commission has named Ms. Harriet Businge Mugyenyi the winner in Thursday’s election, but the opposition party is rejecting the results as fraudulent.
Mr. Patrick Amuriat Oboi, the President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, said election results announced at the tally center in Hoima were “inconsistent” with results declared at polling stations.
Amuriat in a statement on Friday morning said that the party is compiling evidence to show Ugandans and poll observers that the election was rigged in favor of Ms. Businge.
Amuriat regretted and strongly condemned what he called the 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,” Mr. Amuriat added.
He said that this makes the credibility of the outcome questionable.
“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.
Commenting on the same, former leader of opposition in Parliament Winnie Kiiza equally rejected the final results.
The Electoral Commission said on Friday morning that Ms. Businge won the election with 33301 vote, enough to secure the victory.
It is said her strongest challenger Asinansi Nyakato only managed 28789 votes.
CEDDU’s election observer released a statement just hours before the final vote tally was due, saying the election was free and fair.
However, media reports indicated ruling National Resistance Movement’s domination of the political landscape “distorted the fairness of the campaign and state actors created an intimidating atmosphere for both voters and candidates” on election day.
Several people on social media criticized the Electoral Commission for failing to effectively communicate steps that would have been needed to overcome “growing tensions caused by markedly delayed delivery of the voting material.”
President Museveni has since congratulated his party members for the two wins in Hoima and Kaabong saying NRM structures in the two districts have done a good job.
“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,” he wrote.
He said the people of Kaabong, 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.”
Museveni said that NRM is stronger than ever and its vision is correct.
