By Kabuye Ronald
A planned vote recount in the disputed Kalungu West parliamentary election was on Tuesday called off after court officials discovered that several ballot boxes had been tampered with.
The Chief Magistrate, Albert Asiimwe, halted the exercise after it emerged that five out of the 102 ballot boxes presented for the recount had broken seals, raising concerns about the integrity of the materials.
Following the development, Magistrate Asiimwe advised the applicant, Ismail Ssemakula, to abandon the recount process and instead file a formal election petition before the High Court.
Ssemakula is challenging the victory of incumbent Member of Parliament Joseph Ssewungu, who was declared winner of the Kalungu West seat with a narrow margin of 46 votes. The applicant alleges that the votes credited to Ssewungu were fraudulently awarded. The collapse of the recount now shifts the legal battle to the High Court, where the dispute over the closely contested election is expected to be determined that’s if Ssemakula takes a bold step to file the matter at high court
