Electoral Commission has deployed district returning officers from other parts of the country to act as presiding officers in the Bushenyi municipality MP by-elections. Tomsasi Sisye Kiryapawo, a commissioner with Electoral Commission says that the commission decided to deploy its senior officials to end speculation about voter bribery.
According to Kiryapawo, the returning officers are neutral since they are not attached to the local police and will work professionally compared to local presiding officers. The decision by Electoral Commission to deploy the district returning officers comes a day after, Odo Tayebwa, the FDC candidate rejected the deployment of presiding officers who handled the previous elections.
He accused the presiding officers of favoring Nasser Basajabalaba, the NRM candidate to grab the Bushenyi Municipality MP seat. Despite the fact that four candidates are contesting today’s by-elections, tight competition is expected between Tayebwa and Basajjabalaba. The other candidates are Robert Bwarare and Ismail Kikurwe.
The Bushenyi Municipality MP seat was declared vacant after the court of appeal nullified the victory of Basajjabalaba on grounds of voter bribery. By the time of filing this story, voting had started at all the 33 polling stations in the municipality.
Barbra Mulimira, Bushenyi District returning officer told URN that they had delivered voting materials at all polling station by 5 am amidst tight security. Voting got underway at 7:00 AM with small but consistent queues building at polling stations. A total of 22.902 voters are expected to cast their vote.
