KAMPALA
The Electoral Commission (EC) is under increasing pressure to gazette Elias Nalukoola, the newly elected Kawempe North Member of Parliament, eight days after his victory. NUP officials, led by Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya, visited the EC offices to demand an explanation for the delay.
Rubongoya questioned the EC’s apparent reluctance, contrasting it with the swift gazetting of ruling party candidates in previous by-elections. “Like you’ve seen in many cases when there are by-elections, it takes just a few days for this to be gazetted. In some cases, people who have won these by-elections have been sworn in in three days, four days. And if you look at the record, most of those are the NRIM candidates, and NRIM leaning candidates. Now, in this particular case, after the regime did everything possible to prevent our candidate at the time from winning and he went on to win. We’ve seen an inordinate delay,” he stated.
While the EC assured the NUP delegation that Nalukoola would be gazetted, they did not provide a specific timeline. “Unfortunately, they didn’t give us a clear date because they said they not the ones in charge of UPPC, but for them they said they’ve done their part and sent the name,” Rubongoya explained.
Nalukoola himself alleged that the delay was a deliberate attempt to overturn his victory. “The law provides the effect that he who has been declared the winner, his results should be or must be gazetted and he must be shown in as a member of parliament. And they can only have a cause of action after gazettement of the results. Therefore, they cannot have a sustainable petition and or cause of action before courts of law, before gazetting the results,” he said. He added “We are not worried about any petition, we shall handle that should they file the same but all we demand is that the electoral commission must cause gazettement of the results and have me sworn in as the new Member of Parliament for Kawempe North constituency.”
Political commentator Augustine Ruzindana criticized the EC’s inaction. “The Kawempe by-election is over and the results were duly declared by the Returning Officer. Any delay in gazetting the new elected MP undermines the credibility of the EC and also makes it impossible for any challenge of the results difficult if not impossible. EC please fulfill your mandate without unnecessary prevarication,” he wrote on social media.
EC Deputy Spokesperson Paul Bukenya stated that the process was ongoing but did not offer a specific timeline. “On their request, the Commission has met them this morning and briefed them on the steps that are being taken to conclude the processes relating to publishing and gazetteing results. And we’ve told them that we are on course and this is being handled by us and they’ve left with those assurances. So the rest of the conversations had to do with still post-election issues. And we think that they’ll be hearing from us because we’re in touch. There’s an open line of communication, so there’s no need to suspect ill motive from our stakeholders and that’s the assurance we’ve given this morning,” Bukenya said.
Legal provisions outlined in Article 81 of the Constitution and Section 59 of the Parliamentary Elections Act 2005 emphasize the importance of timely gazetting of election results. These laws highlight the necessity for the EC to act promptly to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.