Electoral Commission Defends Kawempe North Election Results

The Electoral Commission has defended its conduct in the Kawempe North by-election, where it declared National Unity Platform's Erias Nalukoola Luyimbazi as the winner. 

The Commission, through its lawyers led by the In charge of Litigation Eric Sabiiti on Tuesday appeared before the High Court Civil Division Judge Bernard Namanya where it defended itself on accusations levied against the Commission for conspiring with and Nalukoola  to deprive Faridah Nambi Kigongo, the runner-up of her victory.

Nambi is challenging Nalukoola's victory, citing widespread electoral irregularities, including bribery. But the Commission is accused of holding an election that was not in compliance with electoral laws and therefore not free and fair as she states that there was disenfranchisement of 16,640 voters from 14 polling stations which were never counted or tallied. 

However, in his defence, the Electoral Commission's lawyer, Eric Sabiiti, outlined before the court the process that is taken upto when the results are declared.

He noted, for instance, that when results are not found, the Returning Officer checks the report book. If the results are still not found, the law presumes they are in the ballot box, which is then sealed with a senior police officer present.

Sabiiti explained that the procedure is clear: when the results are not found, the only option left is to declare the results based on the available information and the law doesn't propose that the Returning Officer should run away.

Sabiiti cited the Sitenda Sebalu Case, where the Supreme Court held that petitioners cannot challenge the effect of non-compliance after results are documented, even if not on the official declaration form. He argued that Nambi's petition is flawed, as she invoked non-applicable laws, specifically the Local Council election regulations, which have different procedures and principles compared to the Parliamentary Elections Act, which governs grievances arising from Parliamentary elections that Nambi was aggrieved by. 

Sabiiti further explained that there are two tests one has to show Court while complaining about the election outcome including the substantiality test.  

However, Sabiiti said Nambi chose the weakest test, which is the qualitative test, where she is challenging the numbers only, and alleged that over 16,000 votes went missing. To Sabiiti, the winning margin was 8,000 votes, and Nambi's allegations wouldn't affect the final outcome.

He emphasised that the election results were properly filled in line with the law, and the process was complete, with tally forms filled for 183 out of 197 polling stations, representing 92.7% of the total number of voters.

The Commission's lawyer also highlighted that violence was reported after the polling process, which is in line with the law requiring reporting of irregularities after the process. 

Sabiiti noted that the Returning Officer reported violence at police under CRB 350/2025 and CRB 356/2025, which had happened after the polling process. He said that Nambi has not responded to this particular issue and believes that even investigations are ongoing, as the matter is still in court.

Sabiiti also pointed out that the elections in 14 polling stations were very peaceful, with no evidence to show that there was any major issue that happened, which was reported anywhere to the police to be coming from those 14 polling stations, whose voters Nambi claims were disenfranchised.

He, however, acknowledged that the disruption happened at the sorting process, where a mob came and disorganised the process and destroyed some materials.

The Polling process was peaceful, EC secured all the material. Voters turned up in huge numbers and voting stopped at 4 pm,"  said Sabiiti.

He added that "the disruption happened at sorting votes, where the winner was suspected. That's when the mob came in and smashed, destroyed key electoral materials such as the report book, Ballot box, and the DR forms."

Accordingly, Sabiiti asked the court to dismiss Nambi's petition with costs, arguing that her interest is not in the petition and that the election was conducted fairly. 

The Electoral Commission maintains that the results were declared by the law, and Nambi's allegations do not hold water. 

He invoked biblical wisdom, referencing the story of Solomon's judgment, where the real mother would rather give up her child than see it harmed. Sabiiti urged the court to decide the case with such kind of wisdom, adding that Nambi's petition lacks merit and the same should be dismissed with costs instead of taking them back to by-elections or postponing them.

Nalukoola's lawyer, Alex Luganda, likened Nambi's petition to complaining about onions in food before adding salt, suggesting that any issues wouldn't affect the outcome.

Nalukoola's lawyer, Muhammad  Mbabazi, said that their client cannot be faulted on issues of counting when there was nothing to count for Nambi. He said the point of non-compliance with the law was not substantiated. He noted that Nambi did not have even polling agents as they demonstrated earlier to the Court, and that she had failed to show how the alleged votes were never counted. 

Mbabazi has further noted that there is no evidence to show that there are results that were not counted and that there is no way the Electoral Commission would have transported and counted non-existent votes. 

He noted that it is wrong for Nambi to come to Court to show that the disenfranchised voters were registered voters without proof. Mbabazi said available evidence of the tally sheet shows how many voters each candidate in the race obtained, and what it shows cannot be contradicted without evidence. 

Mbabazi said  Nambi did not get any votes in some polling stations and that for her to raise her zeros to another number, Nambi has to prove with evidence, which he says she didn't attach to her petition. 

Also, Mbabazi said there was only one vote on where Nambi voted, from which he suspects could have been her vote, but her polling agents also could have probably failed to do what they were supposed to do. 

He wants the Court to determine how much the irregularities, if any, affected the will of the people of Kawempe North. Mbabazi says the will of the people was the resounding victory for Nalukoola in the 183 polling stations that were counted out of the 197 polling stations. 

According to Mbabazi, there was no evidence to prove the substantial effect. He said there is always confusion on substantial test and substantial effect, and that the Ugandan law talks about the effect, where they have to deal with numbers.  But the numbers, he said, indicate that Nalukoola won with a big margin, but she (Nambi) has failed to prove non-compliance with the electoral laws. 

Mbabazi has said Uganda is a country that is ruled by law, and there are precedents that the Court should follow and uphold the victory of their client Nalukoola because there was no evidence by Nambi. 

On March 13th 2025,  the Electoral Commission declared Nalukoola of the opposition National Unity Platform the winner of the March 13, 2025, elections with 17,939 votes, against the ruling NRM Candidate Nambi’s 9,058 votes.

Dissatisfied, Nambi petitioned the High Court seeking a fresh by-election, claiming the process was marred by electoral malpractices, offenses and other irregularities such as voter bribery which affected the final outcome of the elections. 

Nambi who was the runner-up in the race that attracted ten candidates, alleged that Nalukoola bribed voters with cash, including 10,000 shillings to Kyemba Muwanguzi Nathan and 5,000 shillings to Mawumbe George William and Wamukubira Geoffrey among other people. 

However, the Electoral Commission, through its litigation lawyer Eric Sabiiti, denied the allegations, asserting that the election was conducted under the Constitution and electoral laws.