By Alexander Mackey Okori
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Electoral Commission has dismissed without costs, the election petition against the Kotido Central Division LCIII chairman, Peter Lonya alias Jupitex.
The petition arose from the NRM party structure elections that were conducted on May 21, 2025, when Lonya was declared the party chairman for Kotido Municipality, defeating Moses Adome Bildad, the former Jie County legislator.
Lonya clinched the NRM party chairmanship after polling 79 votes against Adome’s 74 votes.
However, Adome petitioned the NRM electoral Commission seeking nullification of the election, citing that the Kotido District NRM registrar Paul Namuya did not adhere to the party’s set electoral guideline.
In his petition dated May 22, 2025, Adome alleged that candidates were not provided with NRM election guidelines and that the official venue was changed on Election Day, disenfranchising candidates and voters.
He also cited intimidation of voters by his rival’s camp and venue, voter intimidation, and denial of access to the electoral area for his supporters as grounds for nullification of Lonya’s victory.
But Dr. Tanga Odoi, the chairman NRM Electoral Commission on Monday June 2, 2025, said that Adome failed to induce sufficient evidence to support his petition.
He explained that while there were some irregularities, they did not affect the final results of the election to justify annulment.
“The petition was dismissed on grounds that the allegations raised were not valued, he wanted us to nullify the election but we found out that the winner was voted correctly”, said Dr. Tanga.
He highlighted that the petitioner and his team were only particular about the chairperson, a position they lost.
“In positions they won, the election was okay and where they lost, they said the election was not conducted in line with party election guidelines unfortunately the evidence provided didn’t satisfy the commission to annul the elections,” added Dr. Odoi.
However, when contacted, Adome expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, describing it as biased.
He noted that the petition has all sufficient evidence to warrant nullification of the elections but the commission allegedly favored the respondents because money exchanged hands.
But he said he will strategize for the upcoming elections, calling on his supporters to remain calm.
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