The declaration of municipal election results in Wakiso District descended into chaos after candidates openly protested, accusing the Electoral Commission of manipulating vote tallies in favour of ruling party contenders.
Tension erupted at the Wakiso District tally centre as officials began announcing results for mayoral and councillor races in Nansana and Kira municipalities.
Several candidates repeatedly challenged the figures, insisting they did not match those from their polling agents.
“This is a deliberate plan to steal our victory. The commission is working hand in hand with our opponents, especially those from NRM,” one aggrieved candidate told journalists amid heavy security deployment.
The situation escalated into shouting matches and physical scuffles, forcing police and other security personnel to intervene and eject some candidates from the hall.
As a result, the Electoral Commission temporarily suspended the announcement of results for Nansana Municipality.
Eyewitnesses reported that some candidates broke down in tears after hearing figures they described as “shocking and fabricated.”
“I know what I got from the polling stations. What they are announcing here is completely different,” said another contestant.
Candidates further accused some NRM contenders of using security operatives to intimidate voters and allegedly stuffing ballot boxes with votes exceeding the number of registered voters in certain areas.
“They brought in ballot papers whose numbers are higher than the registered voters. This is criminal and unacceptable,” one candidate said.
The aggrieved candidates demanded that the Electoral Commission halt the process and carry out a fresh verification by comparing ballot papers with the official voter register.
The commission, however, advised them to seek legal redress in court.
Meanwhile, the commission proceeded to declare NRM’s Allan Bulamu winner of the Kira Municipality mayoral race with 17,170 votes, defeating NUP’s Norman Ssemwanga, who garnered 13,475 votes.
Speaking after his declaration, Bulamu dismissed the allegations of fraud.
“The people of Kira have spoken. I won fairly and transparently, and I am ready to serve them without discrimination,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Electoral Commission announced Fabrice Lulinda as the new mayor of Entebbe Municipality.
Lulinda said his priority would be improving service delivery and restoring public trust in local leadership.
“My focus will be on sanitation, youth employment and better planning of our town. I want to unite the people of Entebbe after this tense election period,” Lulinda said.
Wakiso District has four municipalities: Nansana, Kira, Entebbe and Makindye–Ssabagabo. By press time, only Entebbe’s results had been fully declared, while tallying and verification were still ongoing in Nansana, Kira and Makindye–Ssabagabo amid tight security.
