Kisoro, (UG):- Grace Akifeza Ngabirano, an NRM-leading independent candidate has been declared the winner of Kisoro District Woman Member of Parliament by-election after beating five other candidates in the race to represent the south Western Uganda district in the 11th Parliament.
Ms Ngabirano, who unsuccessfully lost to former Woman MP Rose Kabagyeni in the NRM primaries amid rigging claims trounced the ruling party’s candidate with a margin of 5,567 votes to claim victory in the hotly contested Woman MP polls held on Thursday, November 14, 2024.
She polled 50,459 votes (51.4%), against Kabagyenyi’s 44,982 votes (45.8%) and was by 1:30 am on Friday mornjng declared the winner of the by-election by the Kisoro District Electoral Returning officer, Mr Nayebare Daniel.
“…in accordance with Section 72 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, (Cap 177), declare AKIFEZA GRACE NGABIRANO who has obtained the largest number of votes winner and District Woman Representative to Parliament, Kisoro Electoral District,” declared Nayebare in the wee hours of Friday morning.
Other candidates in the race included; opposition National Unity Platform’s Sultan Salim Tana who returned just a meagre 903 votes, Juliet Musanase of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) with 193 votes, Aisha Chimpaye of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) with 157 votes and Meble Ingabire of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) with 193 votes.
The total number of votes cast on Thursday, according to Mr Nayebare’s tally sheet was 97056, of which 1061 returned as invalid votes, representing 1.1% of the total polls.
The seat for Kisoro Woman MP fell vacant after the untimely death of the late Hon Sarah Mateke Nyirabashitsi who passed on as the area woman legislator and minister of state for defence on September 07, 2024.
The late MP’s father, Dr Philemon Mateke, a member of the NRM and former minister backed Ms Akifeza despite the party rallying behind Rose Kabagyenyi, the former district woman legislator.
In analysing the political landscape of Kisoro during the Woman MP by-election, Kisoro district LC5 chairman, Mr Abel Bizimana said before the polls that many NRM supporters had become sharply divided along religious lines.
“Supporting candidates based on religious affiliation and supporting Dr Philemon Mateke’s choice as a sympathy vote for the deceased daughter, have hugely shaped the Kisoro District Woman MP by-election. These two issues must be properly handled if the NRM party is to enjoy its political strength in Kisoro District after this by-election,” Bizimana said as quoted by a local daily.
Kisoro, despite being a stronghold of the NRM party, now faces a timid time as malpractices that marred the party’s primary elections leave a grey spot in the party’s functions and organs ahead of the 2026 elections.
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