The National Resistance Movement (NRM) emerged as the dominant political party in the Kasese District Local Council I (LC1) elections, securing the majority of village chairperson positions across the district.
According to official results released by the Electoral Commission, the NRM won 597 of the district’s 867 village chairperson seats.
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) followed with 182 seats, while the National Unity Platform (NUP) secured 13 seats. The People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) won one seat, while 73 village chairpersons were elected as independents.
The voting exercise was generally peaceful, with security personnel deployed across various polling centres as Electoral Commission officials supervised voter verification, polling and vote tallying.
Kasese District Returning Officer Godfrey Mbabazi acknowledged receiving complaints from some candidates and political parties but urged all aggrieved parties to seek legal redress through the courts.
“We have received complaints from some candidates and political parties. Those who are dissatisfied with the election outcomes should seek legal redress through the courts rather than taking the law into their own hands,” Mbabazi said.
Despite the official declaration of results, the Forum for Democratic Change rejected parts of the outcome, alleging voter intimidation, electoral irregularities and an unfair political environment.
FDC Kasese District Chairperson Ronald Kabuku claimed the elections were conducted under pressure from security agencies, the Electoral Commission and the ruling NRM, circumstances he said undermined his party’s performance.
“The results we obtained came from a very difficult political environment. We believe there was intimidation and unfairness during the electoral process,” Kabuku said.
Kabuku further disclosed that the party is compiling more than 150 election petitions to challenge results from villages where it believes its candidates were denied a fair electoral process.
“We are preparing more than 150 petitions for court because we believe many of our candidates were unfairly treated during the elections,” he added.
Meanwhile, National Unity Platform (NUP) Kasese District Chairperson Bryans Basisa attributed his party’s poor performance to the limited number of candidates it fielded compared to its competitors.
“We fielded fewer candidates than the other political parties, and that greatly affected our performance,” Basisa said.
Basisa also acknowledged that weak grassroots structures reduced the party’s competitiveness and pledged to strengthen its local organization ahead of future elections.
“Our grassroots structures are still weak, but we are committed to strengthening them as we prepare for future elections,” he added.
As political parties assess the election outcome, attention is now turning to the anticipated court petitions that could challenge results in several villages across Kasese District.
