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By Onzoma Albert Arua city At least 13 Candidates vying for parliamentary seats in Arua City were successfully nominated on day one ahead of scheduled campaigns for the 2026 General elections. Three of them were on NRM Ticket, two on FDC ticket, while Alliance
By Onzoma Albert
Arua city
At least 13 Candidates vying for parliamentary seats in Arua City were successfully nominated on day one ahead of scheduled campaigns for the 2026 General elections.
Three of them were on NRM Ticket, two on FDC ticket, while Alliance for National transformation-ANT had one, seven of them were on Independent ticket.
Arua City has Arua Central, Ayivu West, Ayivu East and Woman Member of Parliament elective positions.
The exercise which started at 9:00am saw Ronald Debo who lost in the NRM primary elections to Jackson Atima the incumbent Arua Central Division nominated first, he was followed by Sheillah Princes Obia also an Independent Candidate for City Woman MP who lost to the incumbent Hon. Maureen Osoru in the NRM primaries.
Daphne Draza, another Independent candidate for Arua City Woman MP was also nominated followed by John Lematia, the incumbent (NRM) MP for Ayivu West who lost the flag, now contesting on Independent ticket.
Other candidates were Kassiano Wadri of ANT who was also nominated for Arua Central Division MP Seat, Sandra Ewacabo (a retired Assistant Chief Administrative Officer) also got nominated to contest for Arua City Woman MP seat on Independent ticket.
Anguyo Godfrey also a former Councilor in Arua City secured nomination on FDC ticket to contest for Ayivu East Constituency, challenging Geffrey Feta the incumbent who also nominated as Independent after losing in the NRM primaries.
Phiona Onzima, the NRM flag bearer for Ayivu West was also duly nominated closely followed by Eng. Taylor Tiyo Oda who secured the NRM flag for Ayivu East, while Christopher Afayoa of Democratic Party also got nominated for Ayivu West constituency.
Jackson Atima Lee Buti the incumbent for Arua Central Division was the second last to be nominated on NRM ticket while Muzaid Khemis the Mayor Arua Central Division (FDC) was the last to be nominated on day one in Arua City.
Speaking to reporters shortly after her nomination, Phiona Onzima the NRM flag bearer for Ayivu West said she will ensure effective representation for service delivery and economic empowerment for the women and youth.
“If you come to Ayivu West Constituency majority of the people especially the youth are idle and the poverty levels is very high so if we are to empower we shall have a hope of at least an individual earning something for their family and community. I also intent to bring consultative leadership to Ayivu West because in the past few years that’s what we have been lacking which has made us to be backwards in terms of development and representation” she said.
Meanwhile Muzaid Khemis the duly nominated candidate for Arua Central Division Parliamentary seat on FDC ticket explained that his campaign will focus on continuation of service delivery and revenue improvement. “The great Arua central division finally we have done the nominations it is going to be the campaign of continuation of service deliveries that started right from river Oli, Arua central division and will this time go to the 12th parliament. It is going to be campaign of revenue improvement, unity, education of citizens and the request of Arua central division because we are the winning team” he said.
According to Daphne Draza, the Independent candidate for Arua City Woman MP, she will focus on women empowerment and uniting the people in Arua cosmopolitan City. “I came second during the primary elections, I will be for the women, youth since I am a youth and men who have been neglected and I will represent the views of everyone. Arua city has a lot of disunity which I intend to bridge because our leaders are not uniting our people” she said.
Osman Ezale, the Returning Officer for Arua City commended the candidates for maintaining calm during the nomination process and cautioned them to ensure peace throughout the campaign period. “So far so good we were able to nominate 13 candidates in the various city constituencies in in exercise that started at 9:00am on day one. 60% of our nominations are actually done and we are left with 40% to be completed on day 2 (23rd October 2025) among those aspirants who picked nomination forms” he said.
According to the national Electoral Commission, campaigns will start on November 10th 2025 and end on January 13th 2026 and elections will start on January 15th 2026.