By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
ALEBTON
Government Chief Whip Denis Hamson Obua has once again lost the Ajuri County parliamentary seat after a re-election.
In results announced on Tuesday by the Alebtong District Returning Officer, Micheal Olobo, Jalameso Fred of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) was declared winner after polling 16,336 votes, defeating Obua of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), who garnered 15,568 votes.
“Accordingly, as Returning Officer for Alebtong Electoral District and in accordance with Section 77(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, Cap. 177, I declare Jalameso Fred, who has obtained the largest number of votes, to be the elected candidate for Ajuri County Constituency,” Olobo said.
The re-election followed controversy surrounding the January 15 parliamentary poll, in which Jalameso had initially been declared winner with 14,331 votes (44.5%) against Obua’s 12,963 votes (40.25%). However, the results were disputed after it emerged that results from 18 polling stations in Awei Sub-county had not been tallied.
Jalameso accused the then district returning officer, Jessica Ochen, of irregularly handling the tallying process, arguing that only results from 160 out of 178 polling stations had been considered. He further alleged that ballot boxes from the affected polling stations were returned without declaration forms and that figures on available forms differed from those used in the tally.
“The figures announced did not correspond with declaration forms issued to my agents and those of other candidates,” Jalameso told journalists on Wednesday last week, describing the omissions as a deliberate attempt to deny him victory.
He maintained that even with the disputed polling stations included, he still beat Obua by more than 500 votes, saying he obtained an additional 766 votes from the affected stations, bringing his total to 15,097, compared to Obua’s 14,591.
Following complaints of vote rigging and inconsistencies, the Electoral Commission ordered a fresh election in the 18 polling stations from the parishes of Awiri, Acece, Ojul and Owalo in Awei Sub-county.
In the re-election, five candidates contested the seat. Besides Jalameso and Obua, Emmanuel Ongom Okwel (FDC) polled 2,874 votes, Stephen Omara (Independent) got 519 votes, while Jasper Molo (Independent) obtained 1,585 votes.
According to the official tally, a total of 36,882 valid votes were cast. The number of rejected ballot papers stood at 1,164, bringing the total number of ballot papers counted to 38,046, while 99 ballot papers were recorded as spoilt.
The outcome marks a second consecutive defeat for Obua in the Ajuri County race, cementing Jalameso’s victory after weeks of electoral disputes and scrutiny.
