Forum for Democratic Change on Tuesday endorsed Augustine Ruzindana and Anita Among as the party candidates for the East African Legislative Assembly elections.
The two officials will, however, have to wait a bit longer before they know their fate.
The party is currently seeking an interim injunction from the East African Court of Justice on the interpretation of Article 50 of the East African Treaty. They want the court to interpret the rules of procedure of the Parliament of Uganda which defines how membership to EALA is constituted in consonance with the treaty.
The officials insist that earlier nominations by the other parties including NRM, UPC, DP and CP were inconsistent with Article 50, which mandates national parliaments to explore the feasibility of having all parties represented.
Abdu Katuntu the shadow attorney general and one of the lawyers representing FDC in Arusha, says they filed the reference of the petition on Monday, but that all the judges of the East African Court of Justice are in Sweden for a Human rights course.
The Judges will return to Arusha on June 8 and that is when the matter will be fixed for hearing. However, Katuntu says the party had to hold internal elections despite the boycott because there was a lot of tension in the party.
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As FDC held its internal elections, the Clerk to Parliament Jane Lubowa Kibirige released what appears to the final list of candidates for EALA.
The list has 17 candidates including six from NRM, one each from UPC, DP and CP respectively and 8 Independents.
On Wednesday, Parliament will hold elections for all candidates from the different political parties to fill the nine seats allocated to Uganda, but Katuntu says the Parliament proceedings are not a big deal.
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Nandala Mafabi, Leader of Opposition says Parliament was supposed to report on paragraph 13 which operationalises rule 13 of the East African treaty. It states that there should be consensus on the number of representatives chosen for the seats from each political party.
Nandala adds that the FDC’s election is a demonstration that they are interested in the party.
The party officials also say that even though Parliament closed the date for nomination of candidates on Wednesday last week, if FDC representatives are rejected, it shall be considered as part of the process and evidence before court.
While debating the matter in Parliament on Monday, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga jumped the clause which Nandala says was an error which they will use as evidence.
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He argues that the nominations were carried out on the May 22 and 23 while the rules were gazetted on the May 21. Mafabi argues that the FDC never knew how many slots they were entitled to and could not hold their primaries for EALA.
