The Jinja South East Member of Parliament Paul Mwiru has petitioned Jinja High Court to overturn the election of his National Resistance Movement-NRM party rival, Nathan Igeme Nabeta. Mwiru lost to Nabeta in the January 14th, 2021 polls.

Mwiru who ran on the Alliance for National Transformation-ANT party ticket obtained 5,580 votes against Nabeta’s 5,817 votes. However, Mwiru claims that the polls were marred with vote-rigging.  Through his lawyer Edward Kyeyago, Mwiru says that Nabeta who doubles as the Jinja city NRM party chairperson connived with security operatives to frustrate his polling agents on election day.

He also faults the Electoral Commission officials for conspiring with Nabeta to rob him of his victory even when the declaration of result forms shows that he actually won the polls. Mwiru’s lawyer Kyeyago says that they have all the necessary evidence implicating Nabeta and EC for conniving to overturn his client’s victory.

The court is yet to invite Nabeta to file his defence to the petition that was filed on Thursday afternoon. The two politicians have been arch rivals since 2006 when Mwiru attempted to block Nabeta from seeking a second elective term.

They competed for the same seat in the 2011 and 2016 elections. Mwiru managed to oust Nabeta through court petition before he went on to win two successful by elections.

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By: URN