Gulu city records worst voters turn-up in presidential elections

Gulu, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu City has registered the worst voters’ turn-up in the Presidential elections.

Statistics from the Electoral Commission shows that 34,916 voters out of the registered 103,401 in Gulu City voted in the 2021 Presidential elections representing 37.3%. 

In 2016 before Gulu Municipality was elevated to a city, 101,588 out of 184,791 voted representing 54.97%.

The other places that registered low voters turn up in the 2021 Presidential elections include Arua City 77,968 out of 170,066 (45%), Amuru district 38,121 voted out of 87,122 (43%), Kampala district 550604 out of 1,280,409 (43%) and Jinja City 71,045 out of 154,750 (45%).

Most of the voters have attributed the low voter turn up to the failure of Biometric Voters Verification System (BVVS) and lack of trust in the electoral commission.

Everline Adyero, a registered voter at Layibi Central Primary School in Pece-Laroo division says that the Biometric Voters Verification System failed to recognize her particulars several times prompting her to abandon voting.   

This contradicts the year 2016 when Adyero had no problems with the machine and successfully cast her votes for the elective positions.

Lillian Akello, also a registered voter in Layibi Central Primary School did not go to cast her votes. She says that she had no interest in the elections because she feels that it would create no change based on the previous elections.  

She added that she equally has a newborn baby which made her choose to attend to her instead of wasting time lining up to vote yet the outcome would create no change.

Job Ronny Okot, a registered voter at Holy Rosary Parish in Pece-Laroo division said that he was not given a chance to hear what each candidate had in their manifestos so he could not go to vote for candidates he was not well versed with.   

He also faulted the electoral commission for initiating a scientific campaign, something he said deprived voters of understanding their candidates and their manifestos in depth.

However, Benson Obete Omara, the Gulu City Returning Officer said that some people did not turn out to be probable because of long distances and reasons best known to them.

The Electoral Commission declared incumbent President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of the National Resistance Movement party winner of the 2021 Presidential election for the sixth with 58.64%.

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