CSOs worried by number of election petitions
By Ritah Kemigisa
The Alliance for Finance Monitoring (ACFIM) has expressed concern about the growing number of election petitions from the just concluded poll.
The election of about 40 MPs including the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and some ministers has been challenged in courts, with their opponents seeking to have their victory nullified.
The rivals allege voter bribery, lack of academic papers, election fraud and violence, non-compliance with electoral laws, among other issues.
The ACFIM executive director Henry Muguzi now demands that parliamentary Elections Act is amended so that a candidate found guilty of vote buying loses their seat and is banned for at least 10 years from contesting again even when the nullification is by a result of a civil suit.
According to Muguzi, sometimes the very culprits are the ones contesting again in a by-election, an act that is immoral.
He further warns that organizing a by-election is costly at approximately shs 320 million, a cost which is an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.
