Parliament has today set the dates for the nomination of candidates and election of Uganda’s representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
Clerk to Parliament, Jane Kibirige, has set Monday and Tuesday next week as dates for the nominations and Wednesday May 30, as the date for the election of the regional MPs.
Kibirige called on those interested in contesting for the nine available positions to pick nomination papers from her office in Parliament beginning this week on Thursday.
The development comes on the heel of last week’s interpretation of the treaty regarding the elections by the East African Court of Justice, which ruled that the election of the members can only be done once the national parliaments make their rules to suit the provisions of the treaty.
Article 50 of the treaty provides for the national parliaments to as much as is feasible, elect their representatives taking into account the representation in their parliament.
The article has been a matter of controversy since the legal advisor of the Democratic Party, Dennis Mukasa Mbidde, sued and applied for an injunction against the election of the representatives, because in his view, the feasibility clause meant that every party with an MP in the 9th parliament should get an EALA slot. But government and some sections of the opposition have refused to accept Mbidde’s stand-point and instead opted to hear an interpretation from Arusha.
Over 40 people have shown their interest to contest for the nine available slots, with the ruling NRM having the largest number of contestants already campaigning for votes.
The NRM caucus on Tuesday had an emergency meeting chaired by Acting Chip Whip, Daudi Migereko, and agreed to take six of the nine slots for their party.
It is not yet clear how the other opposition parties will react to the decision of the caucus.
