Soroti East by-elections
Soroti East Municipality is preparing for hotly contested Member of Parliament elections on Thursday July 28, 2022.
The race is tight between the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Herbert Ariko and the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC)’s Attan Okia.
Ariko, previously an MP in the 10th Parliament on an FDC ticket, has received massive support from Cabinet Ministers, NRM MPs and the party chairperson President Yoweri Museveni.
President Museveni was in Soroti on Monday to campaign for Ariko in a big way. The President asked voters to choose the NRM candidate. He also promised free education for learners by 2026. The President further tasked RDC’s to monitor the vice of charging tuition fees in government aided schools saying it’s leading to high school-dropout rates.
On the other hand , the FDC party is equally geared up to face its competition with no fear.
Opposition giants Dr. Kizza Besigye and National Unity Platform boss Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine have pitched camp in the area.
Both leaders believe that the show of unity will aid in merging votes against the NRM.
Despite this, the FDC camp has come up with allegations of poisoning of their candidate.
Attan claims to have been poisoned on Tuesday during his rally. Attan, who is currently hospitalised at a yet to be identified medical facility, says he has been vomiting and releasing loose stool.
“I was poisoned yesterday. You may have realised I left the rally before it ended. I was given the local anti-poison and my night was tough – vomiting and diarrhoea. By 3:30 am, I was too weak and had to be moved to a clinic where it was managed,”Attan says.
Soroti East by-elections
Attan was the Soroti City East Member of Parliament until June 2022, when court nullified the elections.
The judgment arose from an appeal filed by Attan challenging the Soroti High Court decision that had ordered him out of Parliament and allowed a by-election in Soroti City East Constituency following a petition by Herbert Edmund Ariko.
Last year, Soroti High Court Judge Anne Mugenyi nullified the victory of Attan on grounds that his election was conducted in non-existent wards of Aloet and Opiyai.
