The Opposition and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) king pins are in Soroti City canvassing votes for their respective candidates ahead of the upcoming by-election for Soroti East Constituency.
President Yoweri Museveni, Vice President Jessica Alupo, the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, the chairman of NRM Electoral Commission Tanga Odoi, Cpt. Mike Mukula and other leaders of the ruling party are today expected to rally support for the NRM flag bearer for the Soroti East constituency, Mr. Herbert Ariko.
Over the weekend, the Vice President rallied the people to embrace government programmes and to support the party candidate.
“After the NRM rallies in Soroti East today, we were hosted at Etop Radio in Soroti. Our discussion centered on development, the by-election, cattle compensation, PDM among others. I also emphasized the importance of peace and unity especially in elections,” Alupo said.
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leadership led by the former presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye and party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat, pitched camp in the area to rally support for Attan Okia Moses who had been representing the constituency till court nullified his election.
The party’s Secretary General Nandala Mafabi earlier today said “The people of Soroti have spoken and are willing to go and vote for Attan Moses on Thursday. NRM is in a panic mood. They are removing National Identification Numbers (NIN) from people. They are using money to pay people at night.”
On May 24th, 2022, the Court of Appeal nullified the election of Attan Moses on grounds that the Electoral Commission failed to conduct free and fair elections. Following his election, a voter petitioned court challenging the annexation and transfer of Opiyai and Aloet wards from Soroti East to Soroti West after the nomination of the candidates.
The voter contended that the annexation led to disenfranchising of over 4,560 voters the right to vote for the leader of their choice.
Court ruled that at the time of voter verification, the people of Opiyai and Aloet wards were verified and confirmed to fall under Soroti East thus the sudden change left voters at a loss and confused as to where they belong and whom to vote for as they were presented with ballot papers of strange candidates than the ones they expected to see and were known to them.
Polling for Member of Parliament shall take place on Thursday 28th July 2022 at all polling stations in Soroti East Constituency.
