The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party primary election for Mawogola North constituency in Sembabule district has been called off.
George William Katokoozi, the Sembabule district NRM registrar has announced the suspension of the polls this morning on instructions allegedly from the party chairperson and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
This becomes the second constituency to have its parliamentary primary elections called off in Sembabule district, after Mawogola West constituency whose polls were suspended on Thursday after a spate of campaign violence. Katokoozi says he has received instructions from higher authorities to call off the elections until further notice.
The race in Mawogola North pits Museveni's younger brother Godfrey Aine Kaguta also known as Sodo against Shartis Musherure, a daughter to Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kahamba Kutesa and another candidate Salim Kisekka. The trio is jostling to replace Kutesa who is retiring from active politics.
The cancellation of the elections has come amid heavy deployment of both police and the army in Sembabule district that is directly supervised by the deputy inspector general of police Maj. Gen. Sabiiti Muzeeyi who is camping in the area.
But Robert Ssesanga, who was deployed as a special overseer of elections in Sembabule by the NRM's Electoral Commission, reveals that Shartis Musherure petitioned the party's Electoral Commission over intimidation of her supporters by the rival camp.
Voting for the NRM primaries has begun this morning across the country to elect their parliamentary flag bearers in the forthcoming general elections 2021.
Source