The Opposition political parties in Luweero have failed to agree on a joint candidate to contest in the by-elections for the Woman Member of Parliament.
The parties have been holding numerous joint meetings ahead of the nominations to choose one candidate out of the two that have expressed interest to contest for the seat, but the two aspirants are all vowing to be nominated for the elections.
The two opposition candidates including DP’s Brenda Nabukenya and Zaida Gwokyala of the Forum for Democratic Change were all calling for joint party support but failed to reach a consensus over the matter. They have all called their respective supporters to turn up at the nominations on Tuesday.
Bwanika Bbaale, the chairman of Inter Party Cooperation in Luweero says that though they met several times on the matter, none of the two candidates showed interest of leaving the race for another.
He added that no decision has been made to support one candidate in the race and they have postponed the issue until further notice. He however reiterated that failure to field one candidate will divide the opposition support, cause confusion and hand the seat to the NRM candidate.
Zaida Gwokyala says she is popular and that she traversed the whole district in the February general elections in search of the votes for the same seat. She argues that her rival, Brenda Nabukenya is only known in Katikamu North constituency where she contested for the area parliamentary seat. Gwokyala insisted that Nabukenya should give her a chance to contest again and scoop the seat for the opposition.
But Nabukenya also responded that she is more popular in the district and the move of a joint candidate was proposed by her supporters to consolidate her win. Nabukenya says that she will be nominated on Tuesday to run for the seat with or without IPC support.
The Race has now attracted six candidates that include Rebecca Nalwanga (NRM), Gwokyala Zaida (FDC), Brenda Nabukenya (DP), Elizabeth Lugudde-Nabatanzi, Anna Asimwe Kirabo, Elsie Namagambe all independent candidates.
The High court in Luweero nullified the election of Rebecca Nalwanga and ordered for fresh elections after she was found to have bribed voters to win the seat. The nomination for candidates for the seat starts on Tuesday.
