Tororo vote recount hits snag, court to make decision on January 27

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Tororo Chief Magistrate Court has set January 27 as the date to rule on whether to conduct a recount of votes or not in a disputed 10 polling stations in the Tororo district woman parliamentary election.

The court had initially set Saturday as the day to carry out the recount at its premises. 

But Chief Magistrate Irene Nantabya postponed the exercise until next week after two ballot boxes were found with broken seals while five others appeared to have been tampered with.

Ballot boxes were brought at the Tororo Chief Magistrate Court on Saturday for a recount. (Credit: George Ofwono)

The incumbent MP, Sarah Achieng Opendi, had filed a petition challenging the victory of Angela Akoth on grounds of alleged falsification of results and omission of her results in the said polling stations.

The declared results of the January 15 parliamentary election indicated that Akoth had edged Opendi by a margin of 35 votes. That is 78,542 vs 78,507.

In her petition, Opendi claimed the results from Kananga Church of Uganda polling station were falsified to suit the interest of her opponent.

She also claimed that results from nine other polling stations were never included in the final tally sheet.

Both Opendi and Akoth were present at the court on Saturday, where a heavy security presence was observed, with all major roads leading to the court sealed off by security.

On her part, Opendi told journalists outside the courtroom that she expects the court to exercise the highest level transparency by delivering her victory.

On the other hand, her challenger Akoth asked the court not to honour the recount since most the ballot boxes had already been tampered with.