Hon. Silwany Wins NRM Village Seat Unopposed

Solomon Silwany, a Member of Parliament and Commissioner in Uganda’s Parliament, has won a leadership position in his village without any competition. The election was part of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) activities to choose village leaders across the country.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2025, Hon. Silwany was declared the winner of the Publicity position in his village in Bugiri District. He didn’t have to campaign or compete because no one else came forward to run against him. This shows that he still has strong support from the people in his area. Silwany represents Bukholi County Central in Parliament and is currently serving his second term.

In the same village elections, only one position had more than one candidate. That was a race between Mr. Siraj Mugabi and Mr. Opio Solomon. Mr. Mugabi won by a large margin, receiving 485 votes, while Mr. Opio got only 8 votes.

These elections were part of the larger NRM exercise to elect leaders at the village level. The elections were held at 72,000 village polling stations across Uganda on the same day. The day started at 10 a.m. with “barazas,” or community meetings, where people checked that all names and details on the village voter registers were correct. After that, voting began. Instead of using ballot papers, voters stood in line behind the person they wanted to vote for.

All 30 village positions were filled using this lining-up method, which is commonly used in local elections in Uganda. The peaceful and organized process shows how important the NRM structures are in local leadership and how much influence some leaders, like Hon. Silwany, still have in their communities.