DP Agents Accuse EC of Facilitating State House Nakasero Rigging

Allegations of vote rigging started to spread in Kampala, just hours after the presidential and parliamentary elections started.

At a polling station just outside State House Nakasero, polling agents from the Democratic Party claimed that stuffed ballot boxes were delivered to the station this morning.

The All Saints Cathedral polling stations are mainly populated by soldiers of the Presidential Guard Brigade, senior civil servants and the political elite who live around Nakasero Hill.

Charles Serunjogi, the Democratic Party National Organizing Secretary, says he was surprised when on arrival before 7 a.m., he saw several of the translucent ballot boxes stuffed with voting papers. He claims that the boxes were taken to Nakasero in that condition with the intent of robbing the opposition of victory in the heart of Kampala City.

//Cue in: “This is All Saints Church …”
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Serunjogi, who is contesting for his old seat as LC3 chairperson of Kampala Central Division, refuses to comment on what action he will take in regards to the rigging.

Few people at the polling station back up his claims. However several DP supporters on hand say they too had seen stuffed ballot boxes arrive on the scene.

The All Saints Cathedral election officials vehemently deny this charge. They say that they showed all people present empty ballot boxes before voting started. They add that since the voting is taking place in the open, it is impossible to smuggle in illegal material.

A National Resistance Movement agent at the scene Alex Rukundo, says he arrived at the polling station well before 7 a.m. He says the five voters present at the time were able to witness the delivery of empty ballot boxes.

//Cue in: “Obviously the soldiers …”
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In the 2006 elections, President Yoweri Museveni received almost 100 percent of the votes cast at polling stations around State House Nakasero.