Fresh NRM party primaries to nominate the NRM party candidate for the Kalungu constituency parliamentary seat have been cancelled under unclear circumstances.
The cancellation of the primaries, which were scheduled to take place today, has sparked off protests and tension is rising high.
David Kawunde a party supporter and resident of Lukaaya town council say that voters swamped the area this morning but found no one to attend to them.
As they stuck around, they were told that the NRM party electoral commission chairman, Prof.Elijah Mushemeza Dickens had cancelled the elections.
It is not yet clear why Mushemeza cancelled the elections in Kalungu, especially after a meeting convened between the two rival contestants, Lule Mawiya and Bamulangaki Ssempija failed to reach an understanding.
Mushemeza told the meeting that a probe into the Kalungu elections found out that both candidates were involved in vote rigging, and ballot stuffing and that there was no need to organize fresh elections.
He instead said that the party is willing to conduct a fresh vote re-count to Sempija's chagrin. He then stormed out of the meeting and left.
Ssempija petitioned the NRM party's electoral commission challenging the nomination of Umar Mawiya on grounds that the party primaries in August were fraught with several irregularities.
Last week, Moses Kigongo, the NRM party vice chairman, traveled to Kalungu for an on spot inquiry into the 12,830 votes which were polled by Mawiya in Kyambala, Lusango, Kiti and Kiwesa parishes in Bukulula sub-county.
Ssempija contested the votes on grounds that it was not possible to get over 10,000 votes in the four parishes where the overall population is less than 5,000 people.
Mawiya apologized for this irregularity but denied any involvement in the irregularities.
Kigongo then ordered that fresh elections be conducted in Kalungu to pave way for the nomination of the NRM party candidate.
But with no elections conducted today, NRM supporters are disappointed. Many have vowed to boycott upcoming elections if the party does not conduct fresh elections in the disputed area.
Ssempijja Vincent the current Masaka chairman told URN reporter today that he cannot accept the recount because all votes were tempered with and wants the party to conduct fresh polls in the area.
Meanwhile security has been beefed up in Kalungu East. Hundreds of policemen have been seen patrolling the area after residents threatened to riot today.
The area NRM administrator, Umar Ssebulime told URN reporter that they are waiting the party Electoral commission in Kampala to give them a directive on the way forward on the matter.
