The son of deceased MP Patrick Okabe, Mr Emmanuel Omoding has this evening been declared winner of the Serere country by-election.
Mr Omoding, independent triumphed over four other candidates in the election after he garnered 15, 638 votes, followed by the Phillip Oucor of National Resistance Movement (NRM) who polled 13, 206.
Others are, Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) candidate Alice Alaso managed 3, 335, Martin Onguruko (Independent) scored 2, 523 and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) polled 1, 252.
The returning officer of Serere District, Ms Sylvia Nangendo Cheptegei said that the total number of valid votes were 35, 954, rejected votes were 812 while the total number of counted ballot papers counted were 36, 766, while spoilt ballot papers were 170.
“Accordingly as a returning officer for Serere electoral district and in accordance with section 58(1) of the Parliamentary Elections act (as amended) I declare Omoding who has obtained the largest number of votes to be the elected candidate for Serere Country constituency,” Ms Nangendo said in a statement.
During the course of the election, several opposition players decried heavy deployment of both the police and the military which they said interfered with their flow of voting process.
There were also incidents of interruption at some polling stations where the security was accused of ballot staffing as well as causing violence.
Mr Paul Bukenya, the Electoral commission spokesperson said, “There were some incidents which happened and we addressed them. There was some incidents at a polling station and we could not continue with the voting process at all. We created every way towards a free and fair. We are satisfied with the process and we stand by our position.”
Asked whether these incidents do not pause any questions about a free and fair election, Mr Bukenya said, “We are open to anything, the law provides that anyone who is not satisfied can go to court.”
Who is Omoding?
He is the elder son to the late Patrick Okabe. At the time of his father’s death, he had been living in Australia. Mr Omoding was backed to contest by a number of politicians, notable among them, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa. He is riding on the father’s popularity among the NRM structures and the locals whose late father touched their hearts.
