By Prossy Kisakye
The Electoral Commission wants to be availed of Shs3 billion to enable them to conduct by-elections in areas where the court has nullified elections.
The commission’s Secretary, Leonard Mulekwa, while appearing before parliament’s committee on legal and parliamentary affairs informed MPs that there are several ongoing electoral petitions in courts of law from which by-elections may arise.
He said that the commission requires a budget of Shs3 billion to conduct these by-elections but only 2 billion shillings are available in the budget leaving a balance of Shs1 billion.
The electoral commission is so far organizing 3 by-elections in different constituencies where elections were nullified including Soroti East, Gogonya county, and Bukimbiri county.
Mulekwa also wants that commission to be availed Shs3.1 billion to handle petitions and court awards.
He says that the commission has pending cases in courts of law arising from the 2015/2016 and 2020/2021 general elections and they were handled by private law firms.
