The Electoral Comission has declared Ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Herbert Edmund Ariko as the duly elected Member of Parliament for Soroti City East constituency after garnering 9,407 votes.
According to the return form transmission of results statement signed by EC’s Christine Eyu, Ariko beat rival Moses Attan Okia from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) who got 8,771 votes.
In the hotly contested race that saw over 40 FDC supporters including their leader Patrick Amuriat arrested, other candidates like Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC’s) Pascal Amuriat trailed with 115 votes.
The seat fell vacant after Court of Appeal threw FDC’s Attan out of Parliament in June, on the account that the Electoral Commission had not properly demarcated boundaries within the constituency.