ARUA MUNICIPALITY DP FLAG BEREAR CHOSEN

By Richard Drasimaku
THE Democratic Party (DP) has elected Arua municipality flag-bearers for the Member of Parliament and mayor. Both positions attracted two contestants each. Lemeriga Fadil, a longtime DP stalwart, was selected to carry the flag in the MP race, while Kafu Nasur will seek election as mayor. John Apangu, the district party returning officer, described the process as transparent. He said 32 members from Arua municipality, who renewed their membership this year, constitute the Electoral College. Only 22 members took part in the voting. The other 10, including Hamid Musa, who contested the position for the mayoral flag-bearer, abstained. Musa was beaten by Kafu, who got 18 out of the 22 votes cast. In the hotly contested position for the MP, Lemeriga trounced Zubair Alahai by one vote. He polled 11 votes. Alahai, however, rejected the outcome of the elections, alleging that the process was manipulated in Lemeriga’s favour. He complained that some of his supporters were turned away by the election officials when they came to cast their votes. The officials advised him to petition the outcome. Peter Matua, the DP district chairman, hailed the primary elections as a milestone. Matua said he expected the membership of DP to increase, following the recent tour by party president Norbert Mao. Lemeriga is likely to face FDC’s Amina Atako, Gabriel Aridru of the NRM and the incumbent, Akbar Godi of the FDC.