Court dismisses petition, orders EC to pay Terego West MP loser UGX 50M

Terego, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Arua Chief Magistrate’s Court has dismissed an application filed by Moses Angundru, the loser in the Terego West Parliamentary elections for a vote recount and directed the electoral commission to compensate him Shillings 50 million. Moses Angundru, who ran as an independent and lost to his National Resistance Movement-NRM party rival, Joel Leku.  

He garnered 8,126 votes against 10,218 votes polled by the Leku, who also defeated him in the NRM primaries. There were 1,184 invalid votes and 29 spoilt votes out of 24,049 total votes cast. Angundru petitioned Court seeking a vote recount claiming that some of the invalid votes could be his since counting was done beyond 11:00 pm at some polling stations.

On Sunday, Arua Chief Magistrate, Daniel Lubowa led both parties to the EC offices at Terego District headquarters to inspect the ballot boxes before issuing the order for the vote recount but the District Registrar, Paul Meru was no show. He ruled that since EC failed to avail the ballot boxes, it should pay the petitioner and the MP-elect costs of the suit and general damages. 

Leku’s lawyer, Sam Ondoma welcomed the ruling by the Chief Magistrate, saying even if all the 1,184 invalid votes were given to Moses Angundru he would still lose.

Leku, the Terego West MP-elect said this is not the first he has been dragged to court and won.

Moses Angundru and his lawyer didn’t speak to the media as they left the court through the backdoor and shielded from journalists by the candidate’s supporter.

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