Kasibante applies to withdraw election petition

________________

Former presidential candidate Robert Kasibante has applied to the Supreme Court seeking permission to withdraw his petition challenging the 2026 presidential election results, citing prohibitive costs and the complexity of pursuing further legal processes.

In a request filed before the Supreme Court, Kasibante seeks leave to withdraw the presidential election petition against President-elect Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General.

Kasibante stood on the National Peasant Party ticket and came sixth in the election.

The petition was being heard by Chief Justice Dr Flavian Zeija, along with other justices on the panel: Percy Night Tuhaise, Mike Chibita, Elizabeth Musoke, Stephen Musota, Christopher Madrama, Catherine Bamugemereire, Monica Mugenyi, and Muzamiru Kibeedi Mutangula.

He is also asking the Supreme Court for permission to withdraw an application in which he had sought a comprehensive audit of election materials, including election returns, Biometric Voter Verification records, scanners, and electoral servers used across the country.

According to the application, Kasibante argues that carrying out the proposed audit would require processing an enormous volume of electronic data nationwide. He says the estimated cost of executing such an exercise is extremely high and beyond his financial capacity to engage.

Kasibante points out that the scale and technical complexity of the electronic data involved necessitate the expertise of highly specialised and independent forensic experts. This situation makes the discovery process impractical to maintain. Additionally, Kasibante is requesting not to be penalised for the costs associated with this petition.

The application by Kasibante comes at a time when the Supreme Court was expected to deliver a ruling on his application seeking to recover Electoral Commission details relied on to declare President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as the winner of the Election conducted on January 15, 2026.

He was accusing the Electoral Commission of having conducted the election in total non-compliance with the law, committing several electoral offences, including bribery, corruption, and use of abusive language, among others. He also noted there were elections held in 15000 non-gazetted polling stations.

He had sought a court order to nullify President Museveni's election and to call for fresh polls.

On January 17, 2026, EC declared Museveni, 81, of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), winner of the elections with 7,946,772 votes, representing 71.65% of the total valid votes.

His closest challenger, Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP), came second with 2,741,238 votes (24.72%) in an eight-candidate race.

The petitioner, Kasibante of the National Peasants Party, came sixth with 33,440 votes (0.3%).