1,600 new voters registered for Soroti East by-election

SOROTI, UGANDA: The Electoral Commission has registered an additional 1,679 voters for the Soroti East by-election.

In the 2021 general elections, Soroti City East Division had 34,784 registered voters, but the number has now increased to 36,481 voters.

During the update of the National Voters’ Register that was conducted between June 10-14, 2022, the commission recorded other applicants in the thirteen wards (parishes) in Soroti East Constituency. The exercise involved the registration and transfer of voters from one polling station to another within Soroti East constituency.

After the update of the National Voters’ Register, the commission conducted a display exercise between June 27 and July 2022, at all the 63 polling stations in Soroti East Constituency. The display was concluded more than a week ago before the nomination exercise that commenced on Monday and Tuesday.

The Regional Elections Officer-in-charge of Eastern Uganda, Deo Nakutunda says that the commission is still compiling the National Voters’ Register for the by-election. He notes that so far, 36,481 voters have been captured in the voters’ register.

But Moses Attan Okia, the Forum for Democratic Change- FDC candidate says that he is privy to the fact that less than 700 voters applied to be included in the Soroti East voters’ register. He said that his party has devised means to neutralize the ghost voters that he claims have infiltrated the voters’ register.

Pascal Amuriat, the Uganda People’s Congress- UPC candidate says they have no problem with the additional numbers provided that the new voters are eligible.

Rogers Mulindwa, the National Resistance Movement- NRM senior communications specialist denied allegations of ghost voters. He says that it is neither their role nor individual candidates to register voters for the Soroti East by-election.

The Electoral Commission nominated three candidates for the Soroti East by-election after the Court of Appeal nullified the election of Moses Attan Okia over the Aloet and Opiyai wards. The contested wards were initially in the East before the High Court in Soroti annexed them to the West, attracting a court battle after January 14, 2021, general elections.