The people of Hoima district woke up today to cast their ballots for a suitable candidate to replace Kadiri Kirungi, their former LCV chairman who died in a road crash on March 17th at Mataagi village in Kiboga district along the Kampala-Hoima highway.
We understand that the election exercise is currently underway despite the early morning downpour that slowed down the activity for a couple of hours.
The race has drawn five candidates including Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) Patrick Musinguzi, National Unity Platform’s (NUP’s) Moses Aguuda, and ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM’s) Uthman Mugisha. Others are independent candidates Vincent Muhumuza and Lenos Mugume.
Hoima District has a total of 94,825 voters with slightly more females than males. Additionally, there are 173 polling stations in the two sub-counties of Bugahya and Kigorobya that make up Hoima district.
According to Crispin Kaheru, the Commissioner Uganda Human Rights Commission, polls opened at 7am at some polling stations. He says a number of polling stations were relocated from outdoor venues to enclosed facilities such as classrooms, churches, and other buildings due to the rains.
“There is a visible presence of security personnel across the district. So far, the role of security personnel is limited to patrolling, keeping law and order in designated electoral areas. There are queues of between 10 and 15 people at most polling stations located in trading centers and townships. The queues are much shorter at polling stations in the rural areas,” Kaheru said in a statement.
Kaheru’s observation indicates that there are queues of between 10 and 15 people at most polling stations located in trading centers while those in rural areas are shorter.
