The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) won the majority of positions in Thursday’s Village Women Council elections across the Greater Masaka and Greater Luwero sub-regions, according to preliminary results released by the Electoral Commission.
The elections, held nationwide, were conducted to elect Village Women Council Chairpersons and four committee members in each village.In Greater Luwero, the NRM posted commanding victories across all districts.
In Nakaseke District, the party won 1,950 seats, compared to 103 won by independent candidates and 34 by the National Unity Platform (NUP).
In neighbouring Nakasongola District, results from 14 of the 15 sub-counties and town councils showed the NRM winning 1,519 seats, while independent candidates secured 64 and the NUP won only two seats, both in Migyera Town Council.
In Luwero District, NRM candidates captured 2,384 seats, with independents winning 420 and the NUP securing 144.The trend was similar across the Greater Masaka sub-region. In Masaka City, the NRM won 577 of the 1,005 available positions across 201 cells.
244 candidates were elected unopposed, while opposition parties collectively won 52 seats and independent candidates secured 30.
In Masaka District, the NRM won 787 of the 910 available positions, while independent candidates secured 100 seats and the NUP won 23.
In Kalungu District, the NRM won 1,021 positions against 247 for the NUP and 72 for independent candidates.
In Lyantonde District, the NRM secured 784 of the 1,132 available positions, with independents winning the remaining 348 seats.In Sembabule District, the NRM won 2,407 positions, while independent candidates secured 94 and the NUP managed only three seats.
In Rakai District, the ruling party won 2,002 positions across 447 village councils. Independent candidates secured 216 seats, while opposition candidates won 17.
The NRM Chairperson for Masaka City, Rogers Buregeya, attributed the party’s overwhelming victory to strong grassroots mobilisation and well-established party structures.
Buregeya said the party’s strategy of fronting hundreds of unopposed candidates in many villages significantly boosted its performance and left the opposition with limited opportunities to compete.
However, the National Unity Platform disputed the credibility of the elections.
Flavia Nabiryo and Janat Naziwa, who were elected Chairperson and Secretary respectively of Forkland Cell Women Council on the NUP ticket, alleged that despite the low voter turnout, the exercise was neither free nor fair.
Nabiryo claimed that voters’ registers at several polling stations had been manipulated in favour of the NRM, alleging that some opposition supporters and candidates had been removed from the registers.
Michael Kibirige, the NUP Chairperson for Kyannamukaaka Town Council, attributed the party’s poor performance to the small number of candidates it fielded.
“It was a heavy task for us to identify NUP candidates ready to take on the NRM in this election. Having gone through tough experiences that included intimidation and harassment, our people are still living in fear; therefore, we could get very few women who dared to contest,” Kibirige said.
Meanwhile, newly elected Kizito Zone Women Council Chairperson Nakate Mpalanyi pledged to continue supporting teenage mothers and school dropouts by equipping them with practical skills to improve their livelihoods.
Hadijjah Nalweyiso of Lumu Zone and Margaret Nakanjako of Kasoma Zone, both elected on the NRM ticket, described the elections as peaceful, free and fair and pledged to lobby for development projects to improve the welfare of women in their communities-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
