Forum Democratic Change FDC have revealed that the opposition strong man, Dr Kizza Besigye will lead their candidate’s campaign in the upcoming Parliamentary election in the new municipality of Bugiri.
FDC’s Eunice Namatembe is running against the Justice forum JEEMA President, Asuman Basalirwa among other candidates.
Addressing the press at the FDC headquarters in Najjankumbi, the party’s Vice Chairperson for Eastern region, Salaamu Musumba said there was no way they could withdraw from the race after failing to agree on a single opposition candidate.
Musumba said that the party should not be blamed for the failure to agree on a single candidate since they tried all they could thus appealing to everyone to support the FDC candidate.
She appealed for support towards all the FDC candidates in all the nine new municipalities and districts in the upcoming elections. Nominations is scheduled for today and tomorrow.
“We wanted to use a random sampling method so as to arrive at a suitable candidate, but the method wasn’t agreeable to our colleagues. We couldn’t as a party recall our candidate without a basis, it would be like usurping the powers of the electorate,” Musumba said.
She added: “We regret the failure to reach a consensus, but we must continue with the elections”.
Musumba said FDV are very optimistic that their candidate is the choice of the electorate.
“My candidate has contested twice in the elections of woman MP in Bugiri. Last time, she won and her victory was stolen at the tally centre”.
“Our candidate starts from a base of 40,000 votes, the one who was declared winner was declared with 42,000 votes. Why wouldn’t I say she is a strong candidate?”
She said that the team that is going for nominations in Bugiri will be led by Dr. Besigye who will be joined by Wafula Oguttu, Wasswa Birigwa and herself.
Other municipalities where Parliamentary elections are due to take place include Apac, Njeru, Nebbi, Kotido, Ibanda, Sheema and the new districts include Butebo and Pallisa.