Tribunal overturns NRM flagbearer's victory in Terego West

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The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Election Disputes Tribunal has nullified the declaration of Moses Anguduru as the party's flagbearer for Terego West in the July 17 parliamentary primaries.

Eric Dramviru Sabiiti, who had been placed third by the NRM district returning officer, was found to be the rightful winner of the ticket.

The decision followed a consolidated petition lodged by Sabiiti and fellow aspirant Allan Kizito, who challenged the initial results, citing widespread electoral irregularities.

Anguduru had been declared the winner by the NRM district electoral officer with 3,150 votes, followed by Kizito with 2,574 votes and Sabiiti with 2,382.

Although the petitions were heard separately, on July 29 and August 1, a tribunal panel chaired by lawyer Anthony Bazira, alongside Isaac Okurut and Joseph Lobalang, opted to consolidate them, citing comparable issues against one respondent.

At the hearings, Kizito was represented by Francis Kiwa of M/S Kazimoto and Kiwa Advocates, Sabiiti by Christopher Kidega, while Anguduru was represented by Michael Arumadri of M/S Alaka & Co. Advocates.

Central to the petitions were claims of serious irregularities, including vote arithmetic errors, the exclusion of results from 12 villages, conflict of interest among polling officials, and restricted access to official declaration forms.

Specific complaints included the misallocation of 320 additional votes to Anguduru in Abindi village, where he reportedly received only five votes, yet was awarded 325 in the final tally.

The respondent, Anguduru, denied the allegations and maintained that the election had been conducted in line with NRM guidelines.

He further argued that any irregularities were the responsibility of the NRM electoral commission, not him, and did not significantly impact the final outcome.

However, the tribunal disagreed.

In its ruling seen by New Vision, the tribunal found uncontested evidence of vote exclusion from 12 villages — five in Ayuri parish, two in Onai parish, and five in Oduruni ward — and arithmetic irregularities that disproportionately favoured Anguduru.

“The respondent did not dispute the allegation of exclusion of votes from the 12 villages in the final tally,” states the ruling.

“There is sufficient evidence to establish that the overall conduct of the election violated the NRM Election Regulations in a manner that rendered the process unfair."

Specifically addressing the irregular vote tally in Abindi village, the tribunal held that “uncontested evidence adduced by Allen Kizito supports a finding that there was an irregularity in the tallying of votes…resulting in an erroneous allocation of 320 additional votes to the respondent".

Following a full re-tally conducted by the tribunal, the results were significantly different.

Sabiiti emerged as the actual winner with 4,037 votes. Anguduru came in second with 2,816, trailed by Animu Agupale (2,786), Abdulkadir Anguzu (2,396), Kizito (2,080), and Joel Leku (1,865).

“Based on the tribunal's retabulating of the votes polled in the NRM primaries for Terego West Member of Parliament, we find Sabiiti the overall winner of the primaries and as such entitled to be declared the duly elected flagbearer,” reads the ruling.

Consequently, the tribunal nullified Anguduru’s declaration and ordered the NRM Electoral Commission to recognise Sabiiti as the legitimate party flagbearer.

“Dramviru Eric Sabiiti is hereby certified to the NRM Electoral Commission as the duly elected NRM flagbearer for Terego West Constituency,” said the tribunal.