The long wait over the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Central Executive Committee (CEC) to release a revised electoral road map for party primaries finally came to an end.
On July 16, the NRM NRM CEC, sitting at State House Entebbe, resolved to conduct the much awaited party primary elections by lining behind the candidates as a mode of voting.
Here is the full road map:
NRM Director of Information and Communications Emmanuel Dombo said the election road map adopted during the meeting would be implemented in conformity with government regulations on Covid19 restrictions.
Members chose 10-17, August 2020 as the period for the nomination of flag bearers for both MP and district Chairperson seats.
Nominations for special Interest Groups (SIG) positions will take place from July 20 to July 22, before voting happens on July 25.
Election for parliamentary flag bearers will take place on September 07, 2020.
Candidates for LC 5 Chairperson, Councilor, Municipal Mayor and Division Mayor as well as LC 3 chairperson and their councilor seats will be on August 28.
Also worthy of strict attention is that the elections will take place on same day throughout the country contrary to earlier reports that it would be held at different intervals according to the different regions.
The announcement, without any doubts, came as a surprise for many who had anticipated otherwise, majorly due to the strict electoral terms embedded in the new Justice Simon Byabakama’s EC road map.
Over a month ago, the EC released its revised road map, sparking off debate, with many especially from the opposition side questioning it’s rationale, motive and applicability.
Bugiri Municipality MP Asuman Basalirwa warned that elections under the scientific arrangement would overwhelm the judiciary with unprecedented legal petitions.
The resultant would be huge financial loss for government in legal costs.
Presidential aspirant Joseph Kabuleta proceeded to challenge the arrangement in the courts of law.
Bobi Wine, another presidential hopeful, vowed to ignore the directives.
He reasoned the road map directives disadvantaged the opposition..
Bobi Wine’s position directly rhymes with that of four time Presidential candidate Col (Rt) Dr Kizza Besigye and many others.
The most contentious issue remains how government and the health ministry will enforce social distancing after the ruling party primaries where observing standard procedures may be a tough task.
Holding such an election through lining up behind candidates with some polling stations having as much as thousands of voters will mean public gatherings with no control.
All this time, members from the opposition side will certainly be taking photos and videos for future evidence should anyone later accuse them of holding political meetings.
As such, the country is treading a risky path to the 2021 elections.
