Soroti East By-election: Voting Halted at Two Polling Stations Over Alleged Vote Stuffing

Voting was halted for more than two hours in Omalera B and Owalei Polling Stations after residents protested the exercise over ballot stuffing.

In Omalera B Polling Station, where 42 voters had cast their votes, the agents and electoral officers discovered more than 200 ballot papers stuffed in the ballot box in favor of the NRM candidate Herbert Edmund Ariko.


The Electoral Commission Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama said that the commission will carry out investigations into the matter.  Fresh voting was ordered at the polling station.

The ballot boxes that contained the pre-ticket ballots were guarded by the police and army.  

Meanwhile, there are other cases of election malpractices reported in several polling stations including Madera, Aloet, and Opiyai wards. In Kengere Ward, Ramadhan Bogere, the Kengere Parish Councilor was arrested by residents for distributing money to voters in his house.

Bogere, a member of NRM survived lynching by a mob that nearly set his house ablaze. 

In Teso Inn, chaos broke out when an unidentified person was arrested by residents with more than 50 pre-ticked ballots in favor of Ariko.  In Opiyai B, the Village chairperson only identified as Orongat was reportedly arrested by residents distributing 5,000 Shillings to voters. 

The other contestants in the Soroti East by-election seat are the FDC’s Moses Attan Okia and the UPC’s Pascal Amuriat.