Ntungamo District on Thursday conducted residual elections at the sub-county level in a renewed effort by the Electoral Commission of Uganda to fill positions that remained undecided after earlier polls were disrupted by ballot paper mix-ups and vote ties between candidates.
The elections were held at 21 polling stations where Biometric Voter Verification Kit (BVVK) machines were deployed to enhance transparency and credibility in the voting process.
However, district electoral officials confirmed that voting for the Older Persons representative in Nyamukana Town Council was conducted without the biometric machine, although the exercise proceeded smoothly.
Ntungamo District Returning Officer Charles Wafula said the voting exercise started on time after election materials were dispatched early in the morning.
“The materials were dispatched by 7am to polling stations together with the BVVK machines and voting started well. There has not been any problem reported at the 21 polling stations,” Wafula said.
Despite the smooth start, presiding officers reported generally low voter turnout across several polling stations.
At Kikoni C to M polling station, only 50 voters had turned up by 1:00 pm out of the 435 registered voters, highlighting limited participation in the exercise.
Presiding officers, however, confirmed that the biometric machines were functioning properly and security remained tight throughout the voting process.
“The machines are working and security is tight,” said Edmand, the presiding officer at Kabahambi polling station.
Candidates participating in the residual polls said the earlier vote ties were partly caused by equal mobilisation strength among contestants at polling stations and alleged ballot stuffing. They added that more efforts had been made this time to mobilise voters at the grassroots level to avoid another tie.
Electoral officials also clarified that the commission has no mandate to arbitrarily determine a winner in the event of another tie.
“In case voter ties happen again, the Electoral Commission has no mandate to declare anybody. It’s the voters to choose their leaders. If it happens again, it will stay like that until the EC organises another election for them,” Wafula said.
The residual elections were conducted in several areas across Ntungamo District, including the Sub-county Older Persons seat in Nyamukana Town Council where the earlier vote ended in a tie without a declared winner.
Other positions included the Sub-county Directly Elected Councillor seat for Kikoni I in Central Division of Ntungamo Municipality, the Rukoni B Electoral Area in Rukoni Sub-county, Nkongoro B Electoral Area in Nyabihoko Sub-county in Kajara County, and Kyamate Ward III in Eastern Division of Ntungamo Municipality.
