KAMPALA, UGANDA: The ruling National Resistance Movement(NRM) party has nominated a total of 115 candidates who have expressed interest in representing Uganda at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
According to NRM’s Electoral Commission chairman, Dr. Tanga Odoi, the 155 candidates will vie for the six seats the ruling party is entitled to at the regional assembly.
The seats are currently occupied by James Kakooza, Denis Namara, George Odongo, Rose Akol, Mary Mugenyi and Paul Musamali, who have also joined the race to retain their positions for yet another term.
He noted that the nominated candidates will have their names sent to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) which will sit later today (July 1) to confirm the successful candidates who will then be sent to the NRM Parliamentary Caucus at a later date for the polls.
Odoi said the party registered a large volume of candidates but many of whom were encouraged by the removal of the shs2 million nomination fees. “The youths used to complain they could not pay the shs2 million. We wanted to test the waters and if this is the right thing, we shall go with it,” he said.
Uganda is represented by nine MPs at the East African parliament, six of whom belong to the ruling NRM party, and the Democratic Party, Forum for Democratic Change, and independents each with one.
Each term in EALA is five years and the law states that an MP can serve for only two terms.
Article 50 (1) of the East African treaty states that the National Assembly of each partner State shall elect, not from among its members, nine members of the assembly, who shall represent as much as it is feasible, the various political parties represented in the national assembly, shades of opinion, gender and other special interest groups in that partner state, in accordance with such procedure as the national assembly of each partner state may determine.
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