MUKONO, UGANDA: Mukono High Court Justice, Judge Olive Kazaarwe Mukwaya has thrown out the third petition challenging the election of Idah Erios Nantaba as Kayunga District Woman Member of Parliament.
She delivered the verdict in her ruling on an application filed by Nantaba’s rival, Harriet Nakwede.
The petitioner, who ran on the National Unity Platform-NUP party ticket was the first runner up in the January 14th, 2021 polls. She garnered 37,117 votes against Nantaba’s 42,725 votes.
Nakwede ran to High Court through her lawyer Daniel Mudhumbusi claiming that Nantaba went to cast her vote accompanied by 17 buses filled with unknown people in the area to vote for her.
She also claimed that Nantaba bribed voters and blocked her agents from accessing the areas where the polling officers were issuing ballots to voters. She also claimed that at some polling stations, her agents were made to sign the result declaration forms before the voters were counted.
Nakwede also claimed that during the vote tallying exercise, only Nantaba was allowed to access the tallying tent. She also accused the Electoral Commission of delaying the declaration exercise hence creating space for altering results.
In her defence, Nantaba through her Lawyer Ambrose Tebyasa denied the accusations, saying they were baseless and not backed by any evidence. Tebyasa demonstrated before the court that all candidates attended the entire tallying process in person and were accorded equal treatment.
He also proved before the court that witnesses presented by the petitioner are either none residents or registered voters in Kayunga district.
The EC Lawyer, Jennifer Somali Angeyo also demonstrated before the court that EC verified the entries and all results announced at polling stations before the final tally and subsequent declaration of the final results.
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