The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Elections of special interest groups in Kitgum District on Monday kicked off late in some polling stations due to missing voter registers and late arrival of voters.
Elections of councillors for Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) at the sub-counties, Town Councils, and Municipal Divisions commenced on Monday.
In some of the polling stations URN visited this morning in Kitgum Municipality, voting had not yet kicked off by 11 am.
For instance, at Kitgum Public Primary School in the Central Division, voting started at 11 am.
Juliet Ataro, the polling Supervisor for Central Division told URN in an interview that the voting commenced late because the voters had not shown up.
“By 7 am were already at the polling station and the electoral materials were available but the voters were not there. We had to wait for them and this is why we started voting at 11 am,” She says.
Ataro noted that they had not yet registered any complaints from the Electoral College.
URN however observed challenges experienced by some of the youthful voters who appeared not to know about voting as they requested assistance from polling agents and polling officials.
In Orom and Namokora Sub-counties, Uganda Radio Network established reports that by midday, voting had not yet commenced due to missing voter registers. According to sources who didn’t want to be named, the electoral materials were dispatched at the polling stations minus voter’s registers.
Benjamin Ewal, the Kitgum District Electoral Commission Returning officer acknowledged that some of the polling stations had not received voter registers and described it as a minor problem being addressed.
He says all electoral materials were dispatched on Sunday evening and early Monday morning to all the polling stations where elections are being conducted.
Special Interest group elections at Municipality and City level will be conducted on Tuesday.
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URN
