Museveni lawyers to respond to election petition on February 25
Kasibante of the National Peasants Party (NPP) had petitioned the Supreme Court seeking to nullify Museveni’s election. However, on February 6, he instructed his lawyers to withdraw the petition. The matter had already been fixed for hearing.
Robert Kasibante of the National Peasants Party (NPP). (File)
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Lawyers representing President Yoweri Museveni are expected to respond next Wednesday (February 25) to an application seeking to withdraw an election petition challenging his victory.
According to Supreme Court records, lawyers from K&K Advocates, representing Museveni, the Electoral Commission, and the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, are scheduled to file their response to the petition lodged by Robert Kasibante, who was one of the eight candidates in the 2026 presidential race.
Kasibante of the National Peasants Party (NPP) had petitioned the Supreme Court seeking to nullify Museveni’s election. However, on February 6, he instructed his lawyers to withdraw the petition. The matter had already been fixed for hearing.
Kasibante stated that he had sought evidence from various sources but was unable to gather sufficient proof to support the petition.
In his application for discovery, he sought an audit of election returns, biometric voter verification (BVV) records, scanners, and servers, an exercise he said would involve processing an enormous volume of data and be time-consuming.
Kasibante further noted that the cost of conducting such an audit and analysing the data needed to support the grounds of the petition would be extremely high and beyond his financial capacity.
He also cited the complexity and sheer volume of electronic data sought in the discovery application, including election returns, BVV records, scanners, and servers from across the country. He said analysing such data would require highly specialised and independent forensic experts, whom he could not afford to hire.
What the law says
Kasibante argued that the January 15 election was marred by widespread irregularities and non-compliance with electoral laws, which substantially affected the final results.
He finished sixth in an eight-strong presidential race, having got 33,440 votes (0.30%). The final results announced by EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama placed Museveni as the winner with 7,946,772 votes, representing 71.65% of the total votes cast.
Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP) was second with 2,741,238 votes (24.72%), followed by Nathan Nandala Mafabi of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) with 108,301 votes (1.88%) and Gregory Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), who got 59,276 votes (0.56%).
Frank Bulira of the Revolutionary People’s Party (RPP) was fifth with 45,959 votes (0.41%) ahead of Kasibante, while Mubarak Munyagwa of the Common Man’s Party (CMP) secured 31,666 votes (0.29%) and Joseph Mabirizi of the Conservative Party (CP) managed 23,458 votes (0.21%).
Under Section 59 of the Presidential Elections Act, the Supreme Court has discretion to award costs in a presidential election petition.
According to the law, an election petition shall not be withdrawn without the permission of the court. During the hearing of an application for withdrawal, any candidate who could have been a petitioner in respect of the election in question may apply to court to be substituted as the petitioner.
The law further provides that where a petition is withdrawn, the petitioner shall be liable to pay costs to the respondent.