The ongoing vote recount in the disputed Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament elections has revealed significant discrepancies between the number of ballot papers delivered and the votes cast for candidates.
The Masaka Chief Magistrate, Abert Asiimwe, initiated the recount process on Friday evening, following an application by Justine Nameere, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, who contested the victory of her National Unity Platform (NUP) rival, Rose Nalubowa.
The recount has uncovered glaring variations in the number of ballot papers counted at various polling stations and the numbers captured on the declaration of results forms and the Electoral Commission’s tally sheet.
In some instances, Nameere was allocated more votes on the tally sheet than what was actually recovered from the ballot boxes, while in others, her votes were reduced.
At Kimwanyi P.7 polling station, the tally sheet showed Nameere with 97 votes and Nalubowa with 62 votes, but the ballot box contained 49 ballots, all in favour of Nameere.
The Chief Magistrate resolved to disregard results from this polling station due to the inconsistency. So far, the ballot boxes with issues are five.
Similar discrepancies were found at Binyonyi A (NAMBU-Z) polling station, where Nameere was allocated 339 votes, but only 41 were recovered from the ballot box.
At Market Triangle (Open Space) polling station, Nameere’s votes were reduced from 200 on the tally sheet to 21 in the ballot box.
In some polling stations, Nameere’s votes were indeed reduced, as claimed.
At Block B A polling station, Nameere had 39 votes on the tally sheet, but the ballot box contained 188 votes.
The court has examined 104 ballot boxes, representing 33.2% of the completed work, and will re-examine a total of 59,499 ballot papers cast in the Masaka City Woman MP election.
The recount was conducted in the absence of the declared winner, Rose Nalubowa, who walked away on Friday in protest of the Chief Magistrate’s decision to proceed with the exercise despite finding a ballot box with a broken seal.
“I am not surprised by the discrepancies,” said a source close to the court. “The electoral process was flawed from the start, and it’s no surprise that the results are being contested.”
The Chief Magistrate has vowed to ensure a thorough and transparent recount process.