The Moroto Chief Magistrate’s court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Joseph Lomonyang, one of the losers in the Bokora East constituency in Napak district.
Lomonyanga had filed a petition before the court challenging the victory of Peterken Lochap, the NRM candidate in the 2026 parliamentary elections. He alleged that there were election irregularities during the polls that saw Lochap regain his seat in Parliament.
Lochap won the seat with 8177 votes, followed by Lomonyang with 7611 votes and Moses Adupa (Ind) with 1152 votes. Lomonyang had petitioned the court, seeking cancellation of ballots from polling stations without declaration forms and a recount.
Locahp’s lawyers, Alfred Okello Oryem, objected to the petitition saying that the petitioner did not notify the Returning Officer of his intentions to petition against the declared results as required by law.
Okello said this would have blocked the transmission of results from the constituency to the Electoral Commission headquarters in Kampala, but instead, they rushed to apply without any notification on the 22nd.
He also said there is no factual merit in the complaints presented in the application. He stressed that it is only the people of Bokora constituency who determine the candidate of their choice and not anybody else.
James Opio, the Chief Magistrate of Moroto, in his ruling, said the applicants wanted some illegal votes to be removed, especially from the polling stations where there were no declaration forms, and they carried out a recount.
Opio noted that, as a court, that cannot be a ground for a recount, stating that this can only be done when there are arithmetical errors.
He noted that if the process was not compliant with the law and not signed by the presiding officer, then that would be handled by the High Court and not the Chief Magistrate’s court.
Opio also cited claims of ballot papers that entered through the Electoral Commission offices had their seals tampered with, and such evidence was not challenged.
He reiterated that the court cannot grant the order of recount when the votes have already been tampered with, instead advising the parties to file a petition at the High Court.
Opio said they dismissed the matter and ordered each party to bear their own costs since there was no need to make a loser pay for expenses.
Lochap welcomed the ruling, stating that his victory started right from the day of polling.
Lochap noted that since some groups of people contested his victory, he wanted them to seek the truth through the legal process. He said the court has finally ruled in his favour, which is an indication that he was voted for.
Lochap appealed to the voters to unite and dissolve the camps that have been created to promote disunity and hate speech.
He said camps have frustrated his efforts to deliver services to the voters, and this should be stopped with immediate effect, so they can concentrate on developmental matters.
Meanwhile, Lomonyang, the complainant, reacting to the ruling, said he cannot decide yet on the next course of action after losing the case.
Lomonyang said he had anticipated a loss in his case after the magistrate allegedly claimed to have received calls from different people who seemed to be from NRM top officials. He noted that the NRM party could have done everything possible to have their candidate win the case, and as an independent, he had no backup.
Lomonyang cited that during the campaigns, there was a conspiracy between his opponent and state operatives, and this gave him a hard time in the campaigns. He said the matter was reported to the authorities to have the matter addressed, but no one gave him attention.
Lomonyang said he has decided to leave everything in the hands of God with a belief that the voters elected him, and the victory was only robbed. He said the loss is for the people of Bokora constituency who have lost the case and not him as an individual, and they should stay stronger.
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