The National Resistance Movement (NRM) deputy spokesperson has said that the ongoing parliamentary and LCV party primaries have registered a success rate of about 80 percent.

Addressing journalists today in Kampala, Ofwono Opondo contended that although the exercise ‘has faced some glitches’, it is still a success since elections in most districts is running smoothly.

“It’s going to be 70-80 percent successful, we count ourselves successful,” Ofwono Opondo said at the party headquarters on Kyadondo Road.

He added that of the 112 districts in Uganda, only 5 had so far proved problematic, with the challenges mostly logistical problems and violence related issues.

He however warned those planning to cause violence in the elections, saying the party was working alongside police to ensure the exercise is smooth.

“The NRM and police are working together; police has deployed countrywide to suppress any acts of violence in the elections and we believe police will take strong action (against errant members). We believe police can call sister agencies to ensure that law and order is maintained,” Ofwono Opondo, who also doubles as the Media Centre boss, said.

He also confessed that the party had received complaints where candidates’ names were misspelt, while some protested against having the wrong portrait photos attached to their names. Of those affected was Busiki County Member of Parliament Wilson Asuspasa Isiko Mpongo, who refused to vote after his name was misspelt on the ballot paper.

“The NRM EC agreed with the candidates that if their names are misspelt, they can accept and continue the voting or cancel,” Opondo said, adding: “Some candidates became stubborn and refused and the NRM EC agreed that the election dates be deferred to tomorrow.”  Further, Ofwono Opondo disclosed that elections in Wakiso district were stopped after the incumbent district Woman Member of Parliament Rose Seninde complained that the ballot paper showed she had an opponent yet she was declared unopposed.

Ofwono Opondo also acknowledged that wrong ballot boxes were delivered to some districts, and that the NRM EC was making arrangements to send the right logistics to the affected areas.

“Some wrong ballot papers were delivered in Katakwi yet they were destined for Amuria; we are making arrangements to transport the ballot papers and the elections will be held tomorrow,” Opondo said.

The NRM spokesperson further said that party supporters in Nyabushozi County of Kiruhuura district and those in Mbale Municipality will not hold elections, following the death of the respective nominated candidates.

Internal party laws call for fresh nominations after one of the candidates dies before elections commence, he said but did not communicate the date on when the primaries in the two areas will be held.

Early this month Mbale Municipality contestant, former State Minister for Trade and Industry James Mutende Shinyabulo passed on after being nominated, while Nyabushozi MP hopeful Micheal Nyamunguri Kanarura died in a road accident last week.

Meanwhile,  elections in Ssembabule, Buyende,  Kanungu, Ntungamo and Mbarara, among several other areas, have been stopped following outbreak of violence.

Other areas that have witnessed skirmishes include Kamuli, Makerere Zone 3 in Kawempe and Iganga.

In a related development, the Woman MP aspirant for Lwengo Sarah Nkonge and Bukoto Midwest MP Isaac Ssejjoba were allegedly found breaching the electoral law.

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Embattled opposition coalition, The Democratic Alliance is yet to drop the idea to field a single candidate to take on incumbent Yoweri Museveni in next year’s presidential elections.

Addressing journalists early today, the Democratic Party president Mr. Norbert Mao, who spoke on behalf of the Alliance, said that different meetings are being held by stakeholders to ensure the TDA emerges victorious in the polls.

“We have not yet given up on choosing a joint presidential candidate for the opposition as TDA,” Mr. Mao reiterated, adding that there ‘was light at the end of the tunnel.’

In one of the said meetings, various opposition gurus including former premier Amama Mbabazi, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) flag bearer Col Dr Warren Kizza Besigye and ‘former’ Uganda Peoples Congress president Ambassador Olara Ottunnu earlier this month met with Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga to seek advice and chart a way forward.

However, while addressing Ugandans during the Independence Day celebrations in Gulu, the Kenyan Vice President William Ruto took a swipe at the Ugandan opposition, saying the meetings will not yield fruit since the Ugandans consulted the ‘losers’ in Kenya.

But Mao scoffed at Ruto’s words, insisting the meeting in Kenya was a success and that Raila Odinga had advised the Ugandan opposition to take time in reaching a consensus on the joint presidential candidate.

“This is the direction which the coalition is taking,” Mr Mao said, before questioning Mr Ruto’s moral authority to make such comments.

“Those comments were uncalled for from His Excellency William Ruto, but when we get to power, we shall forgive him,” Mao added.

Meanwhile, earlier this week Dr Besigye and Mr Mbabazi held another meeting in London in preparation for the general elections.

According to Mao, the London meeting was chaired by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, in the presence of former Uganda People’s Congress party leader Ambassador Olara Otunnu.

And Mao said Mr Annan was the right choice because of the reputation of his Kofi Annan Foundation that played a big role in solving the conflicts between Kenya’s Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

However, insider details of this meeting have not been announced, with both Mbabazi and Dr Besigye saying they will brief their ‘respective political structures’.

“We shall get a full briefing about this meeting on Thursday when the TDA summit sits for a meeting as we look to scan the political horizon,” Mr. Mao said.

The Democratic Alliance is an opposition coalition that was formed by various opposition political parties in a bid to end the 29 year reign of President Museveni and his NRM government.

However, to date efforts to front a single opposition candidate against Museveni is still a mirage, with the two favourite contenders, Amama Mbabazi and Kizza Besigye failing to personally agree on who should be the TDA flag bearer.

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More than 90% of voters in Congo-Brazzaville’s controversial referendum have approved constitutional changes to allow President Denis Sassou Nguesso to run for a third term, results show.

Under the current constitution, the president has been unable to seek re-election because he is over the age of 70 and has already served two terms.

The opposition say turnout was low and the vote should be annulled.

However, official results put the turnout in Sunday’s referendum at 72%.

More than 1.2 million people voted in favour of the change, while nearly 102,000 rejected it, the electoral commission said.

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The opposition called for a boycott of the poll and one of its leaders described the official results as a “fraud”.

“From what we could see on the day of the vote, the announcement that turnout was more than 72% is extremely scandalous,” Clement Mierassa told the AFP news agency.

President Sassou Nguesso, 71, is one of Africa’s longest-serving rulers, first coming to power in 1979 and ruling until 1992 when he lost elections. He returned as president in 1997 after a brief civil war and has since won two elections.

He is now coming to the end of his second seven-year term.

Tens of thousands of people took part in a peaceful demonstration against the referendum in September.

Four people died last week, when security forces dispersed angry protesters in the capital, Brazzaville, and the economic hub of Pointe-Noire.

The election is due to take place in 2016.

Africa’s longest-serving leaders:

36 years: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo – Equatorial Guinea, took power in a coup in August 1979

36 years: Jose Eduardo dos Santos – Angola, took over after death of the country’s first president in September 1979

35 years: Robert Mugabe – Zimbabwe, won the country’s independence elections in April 1980

32 years: Paul Biya – Cameroon, took over after resignation of the country’s first president in November 1982

31 years: Denis Sassou Nguesso – Congo, installed by the military in October 1979, out of power from August 1992-October 1997

29 years: Yoweri Museveni – Uganda, became president after his rebel group took power in January 1986

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The National Electoral Commission of Tanzania is set to announce preliminary results of the presidential elections held yesterday.

According to media reports, the announcement by commission officials has raised the political tempo in the large East African country, renowned for holding credible elections that permit for peaceful transfer of power.

This time round, the two front runners are Dr John Pombe Magufuli of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Edward Lowassa of the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA) and UKAWA, a loose opposition group bringing together six other political parties.

Meanwhile, by press time the National Electoral Commission of Tanzania had said the winner of the October 25 polls would be known three days after the elections.

Elections in Tanzania, held every five years, have produced three presidents since founding leader Mwalimu Julius Kambarage stood down as president in 1985, after serving at the helm of government for 25 years.

His successors Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete have all served two five-year terms, as enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

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Opposition presidential aspirants John Patrick Amama Mbabazi and Dr Warren Kizza Besigye have met in the United Kingdom to further their chances of uniting to oust the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and its leader Yoweri Museveni.

According to a an October 26 release signed by the two aspirants, the London meet held under the auspices of the Kofi Annan Foundation, is a continuation of the discussions previously held in Nairobi, prompted by former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amollo Odinga.

‘Under the auspices of the Kofi Anna Foundation, we have held a two-day meeting in London, UK to continue the discussions previously held in Nairobi, Kenya. We have made substantial progress in preparation for the 2016 general elections in Uganda. We will subsequently report to our respective political structyures so asd to complete the arrangements guaranteeing our success in the presidential elections,’ the release issued in Kampala under The Democratic Alliance (TDA) states.

Both Mbabazi and Dr Besigye contested for the flag bearer position of the TDA, a loose political pressure group. However, the two were later to go separate ways, with Dr Besigye, the flag bearer of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) announcing he would stand under his party’s banner.

Similarly, Mbabazi also indicated he would run for presidency as an Independent, something observers say prompted the intervention of Kenayan opposition ideologue Raila Odinga to intercede and try to forge a way for both men to work together.

It should be noted that Odinga is no stranger to opposition politics and together with colleagues he once championed a cause for regime change in Kenya, leading to the 2002 ouster of then long-serving Kenyan President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, who had led his political party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) for 24 years.

Under the subsequent Rainbow government formed with Mwai Kibaki as leader, Odinga was to become a Minister but later unsuccessfully challenged his boss in the 2007 presidential elections, under the then opposition political party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

Unrelenting, Mr Odinga was to return for elections again in 2013 under the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), this time contesting against Uhuru Kenyatta, the current President of Kenya.

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The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has changed the date for its parliamentary and LCV primaries to tomorrow, October 26.

The primaries were slated for today but the NRM Electoral Commission deputy chairperson John Arimpa Kigyagi issued a release on Sunday, indicating the change.

‘The National Resistance Movement, Electoral Commission announces the postponement of the party primary elections which were slated for tomorrow, Monday the 26^th of October, 2015 to Tuesday the 27^th of October, 2015 throughout the country. We regret any inconveniences caused,’ the release states.

The postponement comes in the wake of reports that the party election material had not been delivered to all polling stations, and also that some aspirants had already set in motion tactics to rig the votes in some areas.

However, the NRM Electoral Commission boss Dr Tanga Odoi has warned those planning to engage in any polling malpractices, saying they would be dealt with.

He also named the electoral hotspots among them Lwemiyaga County in Ssembabule, and Kibuku, Lwengo, Bundibugyo and Bukedea districts.

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