Why Mbabazi wants vote recount

Among the new issues the former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi raises in his new petition, he wants a vote recount in 43 districts in order to determine the substantial effect of the malpractices and non-compliance acts of the Electoral Commission (EC).

The districts include: Kampala, Wakiso, Jinja, Kiruhura, Sembabule, Bundibugyo, Bukomansimbi, Sheema, Arua, Amuria, Gulu, Lamwo, Lira, Kisoro, Kasese, Apac, Moroto, Mpigi, Ntugamo, Pallisa, Rukungiri, Nakasongola, Kabale, Kamwenge, Kyenjojo, Sironko, Kanungu, Kalungu, Isingiro, Rakai, Kaabong, Nakaseke, Amuru, Gomba, KYankwanzi, Butambala, Rubirizi, Buhweju, Kween, Soroti, Luwero, Mubende and Serere.

He accuses the winner of the February 18 polls President Yoweri Museveni of giving away 500 hectares of Bukaleeba forest reserve in Bukatuube Sub County in Mayuge district to 30,000 families with an intention of inducing them to vote for him alone.

Amama Mbabazi casting his ballot

This was during Museveni's campaign tour of Busoga region in Mayuge district. Mbabazi claims that this act amounted to voter bribery which is an electoral offense.

Mbabazi claims that during the Ntugamo clashes, Museveni threatened his supporters with injury or harm and described Christopher Aine, his aid who has since disappeared and is feared dead, as an idiot who would be dealt with.

"The 1st respondent statements and subsequent disappearance of Aine, which was widely reported in the media, had a chilling effect on the voter population who were under threat of being harmed or injured," he said.

He also accuses Museveni of indirectly organizing his supporters, aided by the security organs, to cause disharmony and breach of peace whilst interfering with his electioneering activities, thus gaining advantage.

 Supreme Court judges led by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe hearing Mbabazi's petition

Mbabazi also accuses EC of announcing results and declaring Museveni the duly elected President before receiving all the requisite documents like the Declaration of Result forms (DR).

He accuses EC and Museveni for ordering for the shutdown of social media in order to create an information black-out and deny the voters information on real time election results.

Mbabazi contends that at the time of declaration of the final results on Saturday, February 20, at 3:45pm, votes for approximately 1.8m registered voters had not yet been counted although the number of polling stations with results declared was 26223 out of the total 28010 polling stations.

He says the results announced by EC were clearly different from those announced at the polling stations.

He claims that in many polling stations that he had won, the EC instead declared zero results and in some instances switched the results in favour of Museveni.

Mbabazi wants EC to disclose and produce the documents including the image of Biometric Voter Verification System (BVVS) data base and Electronic Results Transmission and Dissemination System (ERTDS) for purposes of adding up and tallying the number of votes cast for each candidate as recorded in the DR forms for ascertainment of the final results in comparison with that announced and declared by EC.

 Lawyers representing President Museveni in Court

He said EC introduced a BVVS whereby voters were identified using the Biometric Voter Verification Kit (BVVK) which was loaded with the voters roll for each polling station and each voter who came to vote at a polling station, would use his/her fingers for verification.

In effect, each voter was verified using the BVVK which electronically stored the number of verified voters at the polling station in question. Additionally the BVVK had two simcards for transmission of the names of the verified voters to a data base under EC's control.

Mbabazi wants the disclosure and discovery of the data on the BVVK for each polling station and BVVS database on the national basis to prove that the number of voters declared by EC was different from the number of voters recorded on the BVVS.

"The number of voters declared by the second respondent (EC) includes the number of pre-ticked ballot papers stuffed at various polling stations and post ticked and stuffed ballot papers in favor of the 1st respondent (Museveni)," he said.

He claims that ballot papers were pre-ticked and stuffed in 31 districts including Rukungiri, Lira, Kisoro, Gulu, Mpigi and Ntugamo among others.

"The BVVK and BVVS working for nine hours and allocating 2 minutes per voter could verify approximately 270 voters per polling station yielding approximately 7,562,700 voters nationally.

In effect, the 10,329,131 voters EC declared as having voted could not have voted on polling day," he said.

He states that the election and process of counting and consolidating the election results through tallying and transmission of results from each polling station to the district tally center and finally to the National Tally Centre lacked fairness and transparency.

Therefore, he seeks for the disclosure of the DR forms EC used to declare results for comparison with the DR forms in his and other presidential candidates' possession.