Supreme Court confirms Museveni’s victory

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni speaks to the press after voting at a polling station in Kiruhura district, Uganda, on Jan. 15, 2026.
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Supreme Court in Kampala has Confirmed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as the Duly Elected President of the Uganda.
Sitting in Kampala was on Thursday, the Court was constituted by the nine Justices of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Dr Flavian Zeija in a unanimous  decision. They have allowed former Presidential candidate Robert Kasibante to withdraw his petition he had filed challenging the victory of President Museveni in his Petition No. 01 of 2026.
Delivering the decision, Dr Zeija first said the Court had reached one unanimous decision on the withdrawal of the petition, but noted that there was a dissenting judgment limited to the issue of costs. He then tasked Justice Muzamir Mutangula Kibeedi to read the lead judgment on behalf of the majority.
Justice Kibeedi read out the names of the eight justices who formed the unanimous decision allowing the withdrawal. Chief Justice Zeija and Justices Percy Night Tuhaise, Mike Chibita, Elizabeth Musoke, Stephen Musota, Catherine Bamugemereire, Monica Kalyegira Mugenyi and Justice Kibeedi himself. A separate judgment was signed by Justice Christopher Izama Madrama, who dissented only on the question of costs.
In its majority decision, the Court has indicated that the institution of a presidential election petition is not an ordinary civil dispute but a matter of the highest constitutional importance.  Accordingly, the justices  have observed that a petitioner cannot walk into court casually and then be left to go out in any way he wants after invoking the Court’s jurisdiction to challenge the outcome of a presidential election.
They described the consequences of filing such a petition as preloaded and likening them to congenital twins inseparable from the decision to challenge the results.  The Court  emphasized that a presidential election petition relates to the biggest office in the whole land and carries serious logistical and financial implications and that by someone going ahead to challenge the results from more than 50,000 polling stations  within strict constitutional timelines, he should have known the foreseeable circumstances.
The majority Justices noted that such consequences are foreseeable and should be carefully weighed by a petitioner and his legal advisers before initiating proceedings.
His Lordship the Chief Justice of Uganda Dr Flavian Zeija
Kasibante had applied on February 5, 2026 to withdraw both the substantive petition and a related application seeking access to back end electoral data held by the Electoral Commission.
He explained that he lacked the financial capacity to sustain a nationwide forensic audit of electoral materials, including biometric voter verification systems, scanners and servers. Without the evidence he hoped to obtain through the discovery application, he conceded that the petition could not meet the required standard of proof.
The respondents – President Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General – did not oppose the withdrawal but asked the Court to dismiss the petition with costs. They argued that they had expended substantial resources defending a case they maintained was without merit and incapable of proof. They further stated that there was no negotiated settlement or agreement with Kasibante regarding the withdrawal.
In addressing the merits of the application, the majority found that the evidence on record was insufficient to sustain the petition and held that denying the withdrawal would serve no useful purpose.
“As such, Presidential Election Petition No. 01 of 2026 is hereby withdrawn,” the Court ruled.
The justices observed that Kasibante’s petition becomes not the first presidential election petition to be withdrawn since the promulgation of the 1995 Constitution. They noted that previous presidential election decisions should have offered guidance to prospective petitioners including Kasibante himself about the gravity and consequences of challenging election results, cautioning that such decisions should not be taken casually or without full appreciation of attendant legal and financial implications.
In line with established precedent, the Court reaffirmed that once a presidential election petition is withdrawn, the candidate earlier declared winner by the Electoral Commission is conclusively deemed to have been duly elected.
The Supreme Court has then gone ahead and cited  its earlier decision in the  2021 Presidential petition filed by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, where the majority held that the principle remains good law that the person declared by EC should be duly confirmed as the Elected President.
The Court has  therefore declared that the petition against Museveni is conclusively taken as withdrawn and that he stands duly elected as President of Uganda.
The most contentious issue before the nine-member panel was concerning the costs of the case.
The respondents relied on provisions of the law governing withdrawal of presidential petitions, which state that where a petition is withdrawn, the petitioner “shall be liable” to pay costs.
The majority examined comparative jurisprudence, including a 1982 decision of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica interpreting similar statutory language, and considered how neighbouring jurisdictions such as Kenya address presidential election disputes.
While acknowledging the mandatory phrasing of the statute, the justices held that the Court retains discretion in determining whether to award costs.
Balancing the need to protect the Court from meritless petitions against the constitutional imperative of ensuring access to justice, the majority concluded that ordering Kasibante to pay costs would not serve the public interest.
They  have reasoned that condemning him to costs would not allow the national healing process to move forward. Accordingly, they have ordered that  each party bears  its own costs.
However, Justice Izama Madrama dissented on that specific issue of costs maintaining a different view regarding the award of costs, although he agreed with the decision to allow the withdrawal.
Justice Madrama has reasoned that allowing Kasibante to walk  away casually without paying costs to President Museveni, Electoral Commission and the Attorney General would be undermining the statutory powers given to Parliament to make laws as the Parliament under section 61 of the Presidential Election Rules indicated that if one withdraws his petition, he should as well pay costs to the respondents.
The withdrawal now brings to the end of the presidential proceedings arising from the January 15th  2026 presidential election. The Electoral Commission had declared Museveni as the eventual  winner of the election with 7,946,772 votes, ahead of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, who came second with 2,741,238 votes.
The other candidates included Nathan Nandala Mafabi with 209,039 votes, Gen Gregory Mugisha Muntu with 59,276 votes, Frank Bulira with 45,959 votes, and Mubarak Munyagwa 31,666 votes, while Kasibante himself obtained 33,440 votes.
Presidential Petitioner Robert Kasibante in the Middle at the Supreme Court together with his supporters.
Kasibante accuses the Electoral Commission of failing to conduct a free and fair election. He had alleged widespread irregularities, including violence, voter bribery, misuse of state resources, failure to gazette polling stations, lack of transparency in vote counting and result transmission, and biased conduct by state security agencies.
Kasibante had also asked the Supreme Court to nullify President Museveni’s election, cancel the declared results, and order fresh elections in accordance with the law.  Speaking to Uganda Radio Network after the decision, the Director for Legal Services  in the National Resistance Movement Party  Counsel Enoch Barata has welcomed the Court decision saying President Museveni is now waiting to be sworn in May for the term of office 2026-2031.
****
URN

www.independent.co.ug, https://www.independent.co.ug/supreme-court-confirms-museveni-as-duly-elected-president-of-uganda/