KALANGALA – As campaigns for the Kalangala District Woman Member of Parliament by-election enter their final hours, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) has shifted its focus to protecting its vote, with party leaders finalising election preparedness measures and deploying agents across the island district ahead of polling day.
Speaking during separate interviews on Sunday, NRM's Director of Mobilisation Dr. Rosemary Nansubuga Seninde and the Party's Electoral Commission Commissioner Amb. James Williams Kinobe expressed confidence that the ruling party would emerge victorious.
Seninde urged residents to turn up in large numbers for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni's final campaign rally and later vote for the NRM flag bearer, Hon. Idah Nabayiga.
"We are almost coming to the end of this campaign, and tomorrow we are hosting His Excellency the President. I would like to mobilise all the people of Kalangala to come and witness the message that the President is going to deliver and be part of this history as he comes to ensure that NRM wins this election," she said.
She revealed that the President is expected to arrive at 11:00 a.m. and called upon residents to gather as early as 7:00 a.m. to give him a warm welcome.
Seninde said the reception accorded to the NRM campaign teams across the district had strengthened the party's confidence heading into the election.
"I want to thank the people of Kalangala because wherever we have gone, they have given us hope and confidence that NRM will definitely win this election," she said.
She cautioned voters against electing opposition candidates, arguing that voting for the NRM flag bearer would strengthen Kalangala's voice within government and improve the district's chances of attracting development programmes.
"The people of Kalangala have already demonstrated their confidence in President Museveni and the NRM leadership. We therefore call upon them to vote for the NRM flag bearer so that Kalangala can have a strong voice within the ruling party and government structures," she noted.
The national mobiliser further urged supporters to report to polling stations early and encourage others to participate in the exercise.
"As your national mobiliser, I invite all NRM supporters in Kalangala to wake up early on polling day, go to your polling stations and vote for NRM. Do not go alone; go with at least two other people and ensure that NRM registers a decisive victory," she said.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Kinobe said the party had completed all election preparations and was now concentrating on ensuring that every vote cast for the NRM is protected.
He disclosed that after President Museveni's final engagement with the candidate and party leaders, the NRM Electoral Commission would embark on training polling agents across the district.
"The final round of candidate engagement will be handled by the Chairman of the party, H.E. Gen. Yoweri Museveni. After that, we shall train polling agents, while all other party structures continue mobilising supporters to turn up and vote," Kinobe said.
According to Kinobe, the party has put in place a comprehensive election monitoring strategy to safeguard the integrity of the vote.
"The reason we are strict this time is to ensure that every vote cast is protected. Agents of the candidates, together with additional agents deployed by the party, will be present at every polling station," he explained.
He added that facilitator agents would be stationed at polling centres to coordinate with election officials and support accredited NRM agents throughout the voting process.
Kinobe also revealed that the party will operate an internal tally centre to track election returns in real time.
"By around 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m., our tally centre will have started receiving internal returns, enabling us to assess our performance before official results reach the national tally centre. We are confident and believe we are doing well," he said.