OPINION: KAABONG WOMAN MP BY-ELECTION WAS PEACEFUL—CCEDU

By CRISPIN KAHERU

The yesterday’s election  in Kaabong was generally peaceful and calm.  While the EC was largely efficient at the delivery of polling materials to polling stations, the delay of polling officials to report to work delayed the commencement of polling at some polling stations.

The biometric voter verification kits worked well, although in the rural areas, some machines could not read the voters’ fingers; which the Presiding Officers at the respective polling stations attributed to ‘dirty’ fingers.  Voters whose fingers could not be read were advised to wash their hands and try again. On the second attempt (after washing their hands), voters’ fingers were easily read by the machines.

There was general voter enthusiasm – with long queues being observed at most polling stations.  The elderly men and women turned up in large numbers to vote.

There was little visible security deployment, save for the polling constables that were deployed at polling stations.

Polling officials including polling constables appeared knowledgeable with the polling procedures.  In some instances however, they assisted voters to cast their vote, which is against the electoral laws. In other cases, some polling officials forgot pin codes for the Biometric Voter Verification Kits.

The electorate demonstrated vigilance around the vote counting exercise – with many voters returning to their respective polling stations at 4:00pm to witness the counting exercise.  Counting transpired peacefully although in most sub counties it was disrupted by a heavy down pour.

The EC appeared organized in receiving and announcing results at the tallying centre.

CCEDU deployed 60 observers covering all the 19 sub counties of Kaabong District.

Three candidates stood for the seat: Tubo Christine Nakwang (Independent), Roseline Akello (NRM) and Adyaka Judith Nalibe of FDC.  This however was a two-horse race between Roseline Akello (NRM) and Tubo Christine Nakwang (Indep).  From the preliminary results announced by the EC, Independent candidate, Tubo Christine Nakwang had a fair lead over NRM’s Roseline Akello – her main competitor.

Kaabong district has a total of 59,082 registered voters with 158 polling stations and 64 parishes. The total population is estimated at 395,200.

Kaabong Woman MP Seat fell vacant after the Court of Appeal led by Justice Richard Buteera ruled that the 2016 Kaabong District Woman MP election was marred with incidents of voter bribery alongside occurrences of non-adherence to the electoral laws.

It was at 8:30pm when the EC only received full results from four (4) out of 19 Sub counties.

The writer is the coordinator

Citizens’ Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU)

Source:www.mknewslink.com

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