Big Story: Ruhaama county losses petition Electoral Commission

Politics2021 ElectionsNtungamo, UgandaIn the petition to the EC Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama, the losers argue that the elections were cases of ballot stuffing, violence at some polling stations, arrests, intimidations from the army and police. They contend that declaring Henry Nkwasiibwe Zinkuratire as the Member of Parliament for Ruhaama County was illegal because the election process was a sham.23 Jan 2021 11:09

Front and Back pages of the petition (1)Three candidates who lost in the Ruhaama County Parliamentary elections have petitioned the Electoral Commission seeking nullification of the election.

They are Guard Kamaradi an Independent candidate, Gerald Mucureezi of the Alliance for National Transformation-ANT and Isaac Nuwagaba Forum for Democratic Change- FDC. 

Ntungamo district returning officer, Latif Ngozi, declared the incumbent Henry Nkwasiibwe Zinkuratire winner after he garnered 47,203 votes.  Kamaradi polled 1,442 votes, Mucureezi 7,407 votes and Nuwagaba 1,432 votes.

In the petition to the EC Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama, the losers argue that the elections were cases of ballot stuffing, violence at some polling stations, arrests, intimidations from the army and police. They contend that declaring Henry Nkwasiibwe Zinkuratire as the Member of Parliament for Ruhaama County was illegal because the election process was a sham.

In the petition, they note that at Kabira Primary School in Nyarubaare parish: the agents of the Forum for Democratic Change. Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) and an Independent Candidate (IC) were chased before the counting of votes was done.
They also claim that the Chairman LC II Mirama Hills Army Adson was found with ticked ballot papers in favour of the NRM candidate.

At Kyakashambara COU polling station, the three also allege that the presiding officer closed the polling exercise before the official time. They note that all the ballot papers had been ticked and voting finished at 1:00 pm.

They now want the EC to nullify the declaration of Zinkuratire and declare the election null and void and pave way for re-election.

They say that all the irregularities were raised to the district returning officer who kept a deaf ear and went on to declare Zinkuratire the winner. Nkwasibwe says that he wasn’t aware of the petition and said that the election was free and fair.

The EC Spokesperson Paul Bukenya confirmed receiving the petition noting that they are yet to set date for the hearing