National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) Herbert Okworo Ariko on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, retained his Soroti East parliamentary seat after the Court of Appeal dismissed a petition seeking to nullify his elections over alleged electoral offences.

Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) Moses Okia Attan had claimed that there were voting illegalities, irregularities and detention of his party agents during the elections.

On Tuesday, the coram, comprising justices Frederick Egonda-Ntende, Irene Mulyagonja and Eva Luswata ruled that Attan’s appeal succeeded in part but was not sufficient to overturn the results of the Soroti East elections.

Ariko garnered 9,407 votes against Attan’s 8,771 votes. The Uganda Peoples’ Congress candidate, Pascal Amuriat, got 115 votes.

However, the justices ordered the Electoral Commission to pay Attan a third of the costs for flouting professional ethics.

The justices noted that Attan’s witnesses who claimed not to have voted because of intimidation did not report to the authorities.

“It is not essential for proof of intimidation in particular that a report must be made to the authorities though it is preferable that this is done and a record made of it at that point in time. However, the failure to report was not the only reason for the trial judge concluding that intimidation had not been proved to the satisfaction of the court,” Egonda-Ntende stated.