THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH PARTIES PUTTING UP TALLY CENTRES FOR RESULTS FORTHE OUTCOME IN THE GENERAL ELECTIONS

THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH PARTIES PUTTING UP TALLY CENTRES FOR RESULTS FORTHE OUTCOME IN THE GENERAL ELECTIONS
We are aware that the NRM leadership does not want to leave office though Ugandans who understand what is going on see that the regime has outlived its usefulness and now survives on scheming which schemes are putting the country off the development line and in actual fact a peaceful future can no longer be guaranteed by the regime. It is common knowledge that the NRM has had a tainted record in the previous elections where according to the courts of law, a number of anomalies have been reported including manipulation of results. Given that background, it is reasonable for Political parties to set up own tally centres, that way any discrepancies can be challenged where they arise. While Kiggundu says that the opposition or any other organisation could only announce preliminary results; it is true that in some instances, preliminary results have been changed and the would be loser emerged a winner. We should accept that the final results are a summation of preliminary results, in which case even if the opposition came up with a total tally as per the signed returns at the various polling stations, there should be no discrepancy hence the Electoral Commission worries are not justified. We know that it is the mandate of the Electoral Commission to announce the final winner; however, the results will be more credible when the Commission is not given avenue to alter results as other interests will be checking it.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

KIGGUNDU WARNS BESIGYE ON POLL RESULTS
By Barbara Among

THE Electoral Commission has warned the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Kizza Besigye against declaring his own polls in the 2011 General elections. The commission chairman, Badru Kiggundu, said they had the monopoly to announce the results and that it was unconstitutional for Besigye to do so. Besigye, who is the Inter-Party Cooperation flag-bearer for the 2011 presidential election, announced to a gathering of Ugandans in the United Kingdom last week that his organisation would announce its own 2011 poll results. Besigye defended the decision, arguing that the Supreme Court in 2006 declared the Electoral Commission incompetent. Kiggundu, however, said the opposition or any other organisation could only announce preliminary results. He also noted that the commission would work with all stakeholders to ensure a free and fair election.

On the nomination for presidential candidates slated for October 25 and 26, the commission said October 18 was the deadline for aspirants to return the nomination forms.

The aspirants, with the exception of President Yoweri Museveni, shall be allowed a convoy of only two vehicles and 20 supporters to escort them for nomination.

Aspirants must have collected 7500 signatures of registered voters and paid a non-refundable fee of sh8m.

Besigye to announce own poll results
By Henry Mukasa and Paul Watala

OPPOSITION presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye (left) has said his campaign team will announce the results of the February 2011 elections even before the ElectoralCommission (EC) as part of their strategy to thwart rigging.

Campaigning in Bukedi, in Kibuku district, Besigye, the FDC leader, revealed that his team had set up a network of people that would monitor all polling stations across the country.

“When I said we shall announce the results, they trembled, arguing that I did not have the authority to do so. I want to repeat it today we shall announce the results.”Besigye said.

He added, “Results are announced at polling stations. My duty as a candidate is to tally my results. We shall announce what we would have compiled using the official election declaration forms as Eng. Badru Kiggundu fidgets with figures,” Besigye stated.

“We shall then wait for when he (Kiggundu) finally makes up his mind to announce the results.”

Answering a question from a voter who wondered whether the EC boss, who is perceived as partisan, would announce a Besigye triumph, should it happen, Besigye said that the eyes of the world would be on Uganda as citizens go to polls.
Besigye gave the example of the Ivory Coast, where the opposition leader, Alassane Ouattara, won the presidential poll but the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo attempted to cling on: “The international community has told him, ‘come on what you are doing is unacceptable! And he will go.”
In Kibuku town, residents alleged that the area MP, Saleh Kamba, was training a kiboko squad militia.
In response Besigye said overzealous people like the Kamba FDC district chairperson, Dr Patrick Wakida, told residents to tell the perpetrators to beware, because canes are not bought from shops but picked from the bush.
FDC vice-president Salaam Musumba asked party supporters to be firm and remember that “if a fellow man attacks you with a stick, pick one and defend yourself.”
Besigye said a cornered NRM would use bribery, intimidation, propaganda and divide-and-rule as a last resort, but citizens to be on the look out.

Elections Presidential candidates will not announce results- Electoral Commission
2011 General Elections, EC boss Badru Kiggundu has said. Officiating at the opening of a one-day workshop on Electoral democracy in Uganda on Friday, Mr Kiggundu said any results announced by the Presidential candidates will not be official.
He was responding to claims by IPC Presidential candidate Kizza Besigye that he will put up his own tally centre and announce his own results before the EC does so.
Dr Besigye in October said as a show of loss of confidence in the EC, the opposition will announce its own version of the 2011 election results and relay the results electronically to an IPC vote tally centre. But Mr Kiggundu said presidential candidates can set up tally centres as long as they tell the public that the results are provisional.