Luweero district returning officer and his deputy have been arrested over the suspension of a vote recount for the Woman Member of parliament by election.
Peter Kasozi and Flavia Nakassi were arrested a few hours after they suspended the vote recount exercise on grounds that some of the ballot boxes had been tampered with.
Kasozi and Nakassi were arrested on orders of Assistant Inspector General of police Grace Turyagumanawe and whisked away to unidentified place on police patrol car number UP 2410 under tight security.
Turyagumanawe confirmed the arrest and told URN Reporter that the two electoral commission officials are to explain the circumstances under which the ballot boxes lost the seals leading to the suspension of the vote recount.
Turyagumanawe explained that the duo have to defend themselves as electoral bosses in the district over the issue and police will determine the charges after they record their statements. He added that police grilled the duo over broken ballot box seals took them for further interrogations.
Earlier on the NRM electoral commission vice chairman Professor Elijah Mushemeza told journalists in Luweero that the two officials were supposed to explain the anomaly of broken seals on ballot boxes and accused them of conniving with DP to rig the polls.
Speaking to URN Reporter before his arrest, Kasozi denied the allegations and vowed to defend himself in court when the issue is put to him.
Tension is still high in Luweero as anti-riot police continue to patrol the town after a day of running battles with Democratic Party supporters. Brenda Nabukenya won the Monday by election with 14,945 votes against Rebecca Nalwanga’s 14,915 votes.
Nalwanga petitioned the electoral commission seeking for a vote recount, which Nabukenya also sought to block in the High Court but EC suspended it before she could secure an injunction.
