Last Updated on: 13th September 2021, 03:45 pm
Soroti High Court hears Abala, Achayo election petition
By Robert Edwomu
Soroti—13, September 2021: Soroti High Court Monday started hearing the election petition case No.04/2021 of David Abala verses Acayo Juliet Lodou.
On the 15 of January 2021, Peter Toddu, the Ngora District returning officer, declared independent Abala as MP Ngora County with 8,317 votes against his closest rival, Juliet Achayo Lodou, who polled 7,828 votes.
The results declared by Toddu were from 54 polling stations out of the 65 across the county.
This, however, did not go well with Achayo who ran to Soroti Chief Magistrate Court to file an election petition asking for a vote recount and inclusion of her votes from 11 polling stations that were not included during until 15 January when final results were declared.
The Soroti Chief Magistrate Court dismissed the case on grounds of lack of evidence.
Later on, the Independent Electoral Commission of Uganda officially declared and gazetted Juliet Achayo Lodou Ekellot as the newly elected Member of Parliament for Ngora County a month after Ngora District Returning Officer announced David Abala as Ngora County MP.
According to the results, the Electoral Commission declared Achayo in Kampala as of 11 February 2021 indicates that; Juliet Achayo Lodou (NRM) polled 9,517, David Abala (Independent) 9,226, Francis Epetait (FDC) 395, Patrick Ongodia (Independent) 386; Isaac Olupot (Independent) 76 and Silver Ariku (NUP) 55 votes.
The votes, according to the Commission, are from the 65 polling stations with 11 that had earlier not been included in the first declaration.
The commission declaration didn’t go well with the former legislator, Abala, who also ran to court challenging Achayo’s victory. Read more:Election petition