Fresh electoral disputes derail Abayita Ababiri LC1 repeat election
Rutaro said the decision followed complaints from a section of voters that several people who had lined up behind the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, Fred Mulumba, were not on the voters' register.
Voters who had gathered at Abayita Ababiri polling station for the LCI re-election. (Photos by Julius Luwemba)
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The repeat election for the Abayita Ababiri village chairperson in Katabi Town Council, Wakiso district was on Thursday (October 15) thrown into fresh controversy after electoral officials suspended voting following allegations of voter irregularities and the participation of ineligible voters.
The repeat election had been ordered by the Electoral Commission following complaints of malpractice during the July 28 Local Council One (LCI) polls.
But it was postponed to next week after fresh disputes erupted over the authenticity of voters queuing behind some candidates.
Elisa Rutaro, the election supervisor for Katabi Town Council, said the decision followed complaints from a section of voters that several people who had lined up behind the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, Fred Mulumba, were not on the voters' register.
According to Rutaro, the complainants alleged that some individuals had sneaked into the voting area and joined the queues despite not being registered voters.
"There was also a complaint that some of the people who had queued were in possession of old voter slips instead of having the ones issued today," he told New Vision.
"We, therefore, opted to postpone this re-election until next week as we address those complaints."
The latest postponement has prolonged the leadership contest in Abayita Ababiri, a busy trading centre along the Kampala-Entebbe highway, where the outcome of the July election remains contested.
It is among 19 villages in Wakiso district and 53 villages countrywide where the Electoral Commission ordered repeat elections following electoral discrepancies.
According to the EC's official schedule, the affected villages were earmarked for repeat elections on October 15 and 19, 2026. Abayita Ababiri, located in Nkumba Ward in Katabi, had been scheduled to vote on October 15.
Disputed July election
The fresh controversy comes after incumbent village chairperson Abbey Malik Ssebowa, an independent candidate, petitioned the Electoral Commission challenging the declaration of NRM's Mulumba as winner of the July 28 election.
In his petition addressed to EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama, Ssebowa alleged widespread electoral malpractice, including interference by security personnel, the use of provisional ballot papers, failure to count voters physically lining up behind candidates and the participation of underage students.
"This is totally illegal as it contravened clause 15 of the LCI election guidelines which require the presiding officer to count each voter lining up behind every candidate," reads the petition.
Police officers dragging out a man from the electoral area where the voting was intended to take place
The incumbent further alleged that secondary school students had been ferried from neighbouring schools to participate in the election.
Thursday's exercise was also reportedly marred by violence, with allegations that masked men assaulted some residents. The circumstances surrounding the reported attacks and the extent of the injuries remain uncertain.
The renewed controversy has once again placed the conduct of the village election under scrutiny, with electoral officials facing the task of resolving voter eligibility disputes before another attempt to elect a chairperson.
Three candidates remain in the race including incumbent Ssebowa, NRM's Mulumba and independent Daniel Seguya Bukenya.
Rutaro did not specify which day next week the re-election will be conducted.