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Having come to a different conclusion from that reached by the trial judge, that bribery to Agnes
Ochwo by Onyango Obbo was not on the balance of probabilities proved; there is no need of
answering whether Agnes Ochwo was a registered voter. It is equally unnecessary to make a
finding that Onyango Obbo was an agent of the appellant (which is not denied) and that he bribed
Agnes Ochwo with the knowledge or approval of the appellant.
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Nevertheless, I have no doubt that Agnes Ochwo was a registered voter and voted on the polling
day. What I am not sure of is who she voted for because she is a non committed and untrustworthy
voter. At first she was for the respondent. When she was given Uganda shillings 2000/= as she
claimed, she shifted to the appellant because she feared to be haunted.
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When she heard the respondent was looking for evidence to pin the appellant on bribery, she
shamelessly came forward to give evidence against a person who allegedly bribed her thus also
committing the same electoral offence.
Issue two.
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Whether there was disenfranchisement of voters, and if so, such disenfranchisement of
voters affected the results in a substantial manner.
I considered whether the failure by the returning officer to include the results from all polling
stations or non compliance with he law, affected the result of the election in a substantial manner.
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In her petition and supporting affidavit in the High Court, the respondent alleged that the results
from 17 polling stations were not considered in the final tally of results for Tororo District Woman
MP. According to the returning officer, results of two polling stations were cancelled and those of
the remaining 15 polling stations were not added before declaring the 1st appellant as the winner
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with a total of 41, 165 votes and the respondent with 33, 486 votes.
According to the evidence of the returning officer, because of the irregularities in the 2 polling
stations of Bendo Nursery and Panyangasi whereby in the former, the votes cast exceeded the total
number of voters and in the latter, the results received were for only two candidates, he decided to
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cancel results from those two polling stations.
The principles of equal suffrage, transparency of the vote and secrecy of the ballot were
undermined by multiple voting and staffing. In my view the returning officer was justified under
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