Uganda's FDC party vows to challenge Kawempe by-election results in court

Uganda's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Party has announced plans to sue the electoral commission over alleged irregularities that it claimed occurred in last week's Kawempe North by-election that saw its candidate, Sadat Mukiibi, garner a meagre 239 votes.

The winning candidate from the National Unity Platform, Naukoola Luyimbazi, won with 17,764 votes in the heated by-election that also saw journalists covering the polls assaulted and injured by security agencies in the course of their work.

In an interesting turn of events, the FDC Party President Patrick Oboi Amuriat said on Tuesday that the results did not reflect the party's actual support in the constituency.

"The results can never be a reflection of our strength in the division," he claimed.

Going forward, the party, he said, shall be seeking to recover the costs incurred during the by-election.

"We will sue the Electoral Commission because they failed to take responsibility. After seeing all this mess happening in Kawempe, it was within their power to stop that election," Amuriat said.

The Nile Post reported that the by-election was marred by incidents of violence, with at least 15 polling stations having their results excluded from the final tally by the Electoral Commission.

One of these, according to Amuriat, was the polling station where the party's candidate cast his vote.

The party blamed its candidate's poor performance on heavy security deployment, which, according to them, created an intimidating environment for their supporters.

The party also demanded compensation for any injured or confiscated tools from journalists during the polls.

Meanwhile, the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), on Monday also expressed dissatisfaction with the election outcome and called for a forensic audit of the polls.

The party's secretary general, Richard Todwong, claimed his party lost the seat unfairly during an interview with NBS Morning Breeze's show.

"We have lost elections before, but there is something a little deeper. We are calling for a forensic audit. Everyone must be investigated. NUP, NRM, security forces and the Electoral Commission," he said.

The party is yet to challenge the results in court, as announced last week.

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• Uganda's FDC party vows to challenge Kawempe by-election results in court
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