The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Forum for Democratic Change- FDC has submitted to the Electoral Commission the signatures endorsing Patrick Oboi Amuriat’s candidature for the presidency. Amuriat will be the official candidate of the FDC in the 2021 presidential race.
According to the Presidential Elections Act, each presidential aspirant is required to present at least 100 signatures of registered voters from two-thirds of the total number of districts across the country to support their pursuit for nomination.
Uganda currently has 146 districts which means that aspirants must get signatures from 98 districts. Although FDC could not indicate how many signatures the party collected, the party’s Electoral Commission chairman Toterebuka Bamwenda says that they have collected enough signatures to guarantee that their candidate is successfully nominated.
Bamwenda told journalists at the party headquarters in Najanankumbi that they have ensured that they verify and validate their signatures before delivering them to avoid giving EC any chance of turning their candidate away. Presidential nominations will be held on November 2 and 3.
So far, only President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of the National Resistance Movement [NRM] has been issued with a certificate of compliance indicating that he had fulfilled one of the cardinal requirements for nomination. Over two weeks ago, his party submitted over five million signatures for verification.
In a briefing held early this week, Paul Bukenya, the spokesperson of the Electoral Commission said that although many of the aspirants have submitted more signatures than those required, a number of them have been forged, their details don’t match or they had already nominated another candidate.
The candidates who have already submitted signatures for verification so far include Charles Bbaale of the Ecological Party of Uganda, Henry Tumukunde, Fred Mwesigye, Mayambala Willy, Lugudde Katwe Elizabeth, Mutono Mbulambago Robert, Ebetu Simon, Mabirizi Joseph, Kabuleta Kiiza Joseph, Yamureebire Jotham, Makmot Moses, Okoth Geoffrey and National Unity Platform’s Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Robert.
Meanwhile, Roland Kaginda, the FDC Chief Field Coordinator says that now is the time for all opposition parties to concentrate on fighting their common enemy instead of attacking each other. This is after a judgement in which Justice Musa Sekaana dismissed an application seeking to invalidate the changes that led to the formation of the National Unity Platform.
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