Sarah Aguti, representing the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party, has secured victory in the Dokolo District Woman Member of Parliament by-election, as per provisional results announced by the Uganda Electoral Commission. Aguti garnered 23,044 votes, outshining her closest rival from the National Resistance Movement (NRM) who obtained 14,001 votes.
Aguti triumphed over five other candidates in the by-election, including Dr. Rosemary Alwoc Ogwal of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, Janet Rose Adongo Elau of NRM, Harriet Ageno of the National Unity Platform (NUP), and independents Dr. Esther Akullo Obot Otada and Rebecca Arao.
The electoral process was conducted under tight security measures, with allegations of voter bribery, vote stuffing, and sporadic violence emerging during the day. Particularly, complaints from the FDC and UPC camps regarding various irregularities were reported.
FDC supporters alleged the arbitrary arrest of three party members, including personal assistants to the party president, over allegations of theft. Additionally, concerns were raised regarding missing numbers in Declaration of Results forms from certain polling stations.
Despite these challenges, Moses Attan Okia, an FDC supervisor, noted that the overall conduct of the election remained relatively peaceful with only minor incidents reported.
Meanwhile, UPC raised concerns about voter bribery and vote manipulation in some polling stations. However, Aguti, the party’s candidate, maintained that the electoral process proceeded calmly.
UPC President Jimmy James Akena claimed that villages had allegedly received monetary inducements from the ruling NRM party through Resident District Commissioners (RDCs). However, Akena declined to provide a statement to the police regarding these allegations when requested.
In response, Sebastian Oswin Oguti, an RDC deployed in Amwoma Sub County, dismissed the complaints from opposition parties as attempts to attract unwarranted attention.
