The National Unity Platform (NUP) president, Robert Kyagulanyi, has dismissed claims by President Museveni that NRM candidate was rigged out in Kawempe North, calling them a desperate attempt to justify electoral losses despite state-sponsored intimidation and manipulation.
In a statement shared on his social media platforms, Kyagulanyi, who is also known as Bobi Wine, described the NRM's allegations as ironic, given the widespread reports of election irregularities perpetrated by state agents in favor of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
“The same shameless despot who abducted our agents and supporters, beat up our people, spent days bribing voters, deployed military armored vehicles inside polling stations, and altered Declaration of Results (DR) forms to increase his votes—now claims that he was rigged?” Kyagulanyi wrote.
He further alleged that Museveni’s recent efforts to woo urban voters, particularly in Kampala’s ghettos, had failed despite heavy financial investment.
According to Kyagulanyi, the deployment of police’s Crime Intelligence boss Christopher Ddamulira to Kampala’s informal settlements with large sums of money did not yield the support Museveni expected.
“He is very surprised that despite spending billions on all these and other efforts, the people of Uganda have continued to reject him flat,” Kyagulanyi stated.
The NUP leader also dismissed Museveni’s past claims that the opposition rigged one million votes in the 2021 general elections. He reiterated his challenge for an independent audit of the election, a request he says the president has never responded to.
Kyagulanyi's comments come at the wake of revelation by the ruling party that they challenging the results of Kawempe North by election in which Nup candidate Elias Nalukoola was declared a winner
"The party totally rejects the results of the Kawempe North Constituency that was declared by the Electoral Commission,' said NRM secretary general Richard Todwong in a press conference held at the party headquarters in Kampala.
"The party instructs its lawyers to immediately challenge the results of by-elections in courts of law," he added," he added.
The Party highlighted acts of violence that were reported in the several polling stations within Kawempe North constituency were carried out by supporters and sympathisers of NUP political party.
They also pointed at cancellation of the election results from several polling stations by the election commission which they say disenfranchised about fifty thousand (50,000) registered voters from exercising their democratic rights.
"The party calls upon the Government to carry out a forensic audit to bring all the culprits who participated and messed up the election to book as soon as possible," said Todwong.