At least 80 Ugandan MPs lost seats in parliamentary elections

At least 80 Ugandan members of the Seventh Parliament (MPs) have lost their seats in the just concluded parliamentary elections, according to a report from state-owned newspaper The New Vision on Monday.

The report said that 17 ministers including First Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Moses Ali are among the losers.

New faces in the Eighth Parliament include First Lady Janet Museveni, who defeated Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) strongman Augustine Ruzindana, and Jimmy Akena, a son to the late president Milton Obote, who beat Lira Municipality MP Cecilia Ogwal.

The results of the elections show that President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM) party will have a comfortable majority in the new parliament.

The tally shows that so far, of the directly elected MPs, the ruling NRM has got 190 seats, FDC 34, the Democratic Party (DP) nine, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) six, and two seats for other two small parties. There are also 36 independents.

President Museveni's political aide Moses Byaruhanga said the NRM will have a total of 227 MPs, including the pro-NRM independents.

Uganda's parliament is made of directly elected MPs, and workers, army, women and disabled representatives.

The ruling NRM has 248 seats in the 7th Parliament.

Source: Xinhua