The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) predicted that the NRM candidate would easily win the Bukedea LC V election and opted to withdraw at the last minute.
In the election, FDC fielded Sam Oita Odeke as their candidate but quickly realized that either their candidate was weak or the NRM candidate was strong and decided to opt out.
FDC president Patrick Amuriat declared in a statement made on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, that they could no longer participate in the Bukedea elections due to allegations of fraud.
“As a result, we officially withdraw from this election through this communication.” “All of our polling agents, polling supervisors, and foot soldiers have been instructed to leave immediately,” Amuriat said.
According to a source at the FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi, party leaders met and decided that the candidate they fronted was not going to make it, so they decided to withdraw a day before the winner was declared.
The leaders, however, were concerned about what they would tell voters as an explanation for backing down at the last minute, the source stated. Amuriat, among other party leaders, then hatched a plan to blame it on electoral malpractice.
“All ballots had already been pre-ticked, and the ballot boxes were already filled to the brim in most polling stations,” Amuriat claimed.
However, voters present at the polling stations reported that the voting session was one of the calmest and most authentic they had ever witnessed. Okisopi Gerald, a voter at Sula Primary Polling Station and an ardent Uganda Peoples’ Congress supporter, affirmed that he had not witnessed any type of fraud or malpractice at his station, nor had he heard of any from his fellow voters at other stations.
FDC orchestrated all of the bogus claims as a disguise for their cowardice and withdrawal when it became clear that Sam Oita Odeke would not be elected as LC5 chairperson.
Voters in Bukedea district turned up at polling places to support their candidates for the position left vacant by the death of the chairperson, Moses Olemukan, in December last year. Mary Akol, an NRM candidate, was proclaimed the winner of the Bukedea District LC5 chairperson by-election today.
According to the returning officer for Bukedea District, Mugyenyi Joel Mugerwa, Akol, won with 79,692 votes, followed by Lokwiisk Tychicus Ebukalin, Independent, with 4,941 votes, and FDC candidate Sam Oita Odeke tailed with 2343 votes.
