Busongora South candidates embark on door-to-door campaigns

Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Political candidates vying for the Busongora South parliamentary seat have embarked on door-to-door campaigns to lure potential voters. Political campaigns end today, ahead of the by-election on Thursday.

The National Resistance-Movement-NRM party has formed groups spearheaded by persons that are attached to ethnicities in the constituency to reach out to voters in their homes and business premises. They started the door-to-door drive on Monday combing through villages across the constituency.

Johnson Kamalha Kalyasa, the Kasese NRM district publicity secretary says the door-to-door approach is one of the campaign strategies that the party developed in the last days of the campaign to woo voters. He adds that the strategy has helped them to woo more voters from the opposition to the NRM camp.

Geoffrey Kabyanga, the State Minister for ICT and National Guidance said they are investing a lot of energy, especially in areas where NRM has previously not performed well. He is optimistic that the party will win the election given that the government had established a number of projects in the area.

Meanwhile, candidates for the National Unity Platform and the Democratic Party as well as some independent candidates are equally adopting the house-to-house strategy, especially in areas where they believe they have an advantage.

DP’s Bernadette Businge and Doreen Izagiire, an independent candidate both say that they have opted for door-to-door campaigns because most people are too busy to attend public rallies. Izagiire says that the strategy will also help first-time candidates to expand their reach and be known to the people ahead of polling day.

The Busongora South parliamentary seat fell vacant following a court ruling which set aside the results of the 2021 elections initially won by NRM’s Gideon Thembo Mujungu.

Three Justices of Appeal led by Fredrick Egonda Ntende overturned the decision of the High Court in Fort Portal and concurred with Thembo’s rival that there were irregularities at Katunguru Primary school, Katunguru Market, and Busunga Primary school polling stations in Kasese district, implying that the NRM candidate had been irregularly elected.

The race attracted seven candidates who were fully nominated by the Electoral Commission (EC). They include the NRM party aspirant Thembo Mujungu, NUP’s Jackson Mbaju, Aloysius Baguma Kighema from the opposition Forum for Democratic Change -FDC and Bernadette Businge, a candidate from the Democratic Party-DP.

Those nominated as independent candidates include Juma Munezero, Doreen Izagiire and David Mulindwa Isimbwa.

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