Our primaries demonstrated NRM is the most democratic party - says Lumumba

The NRM Secretary General, Justine Kasule Lumumba has hailed what she termed as largely successful party primaries for Members of Parliament held over a week ago noting that they have depicted NRM as the most democratic party in the country.

In a statement read by her deputy, Richard Todwong, Lumumba said with over 1900 candidates contesting for a total of 420 MP positions in the concluded party primaries, elections were carried out to get the party flagbearers in a democratic manner unlike other parties.

“A total of 1,421 candidates were nominated to contest for the 296 constituencies whereas a total of 495 women leaders were nominated to contest for the 124 woman representative positions,” Lumumba said.

She noted that on average, about five candidates contested for every constituency seat whereas four candidates contested for every district woman MP seat in order to carry the party flags.

The party Secretary General boasted of the evolution of the party for having attracted such big numbers of candidates participating in the internal election.

“No other sister political organization in Uganda has this level of veracity of competition within their primaries elections. On the contrary, some of our competitors usually appoint their flag bearers and even then, they fail to field candidates in all positions to be contested for,” she said.

Violence

The NRM Secretary General noted that whereas there were small pockets of violence in some areas, the elections were largely peaceful.

“I want to state for a fact, that these primaries elections for Members of Parliament have been largely peaceful and calm in most parts of the country, save for a few constituencies and districts, whose elections have been marred with acts of violence, intimidation, alleged voter bribery and disregard to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,”Lumumba said.

Whereas there were several incidents of clashed between rival supporters that saw a number of them hospitalized, the NRM Secretary General insisted that these were isolated incidents.

“The reported cases of violence occurred in about 10 districts and these unfortunate incidents should not define the otherwise very successful primaries elections countrywide,” she said.

The NRM Secretary-General explained that six  party members who were seriously injured in several fracases during the party primaries were evacuated to various hospitals around the country.

She however noted that there is need to reflect on the cause of violence in the elections and the huge turn up for the MP primaries unlike in the election for chairperson and LC5 chairmen held a week later.