The Supreme Court of Uganda has confirmed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as the duly elected President of Uganda, after allowing the withdrawal of a presidential election petition filed by former candidate Robert Kasibante.
In a unanimous decision delivered by nine justices led by Chief Justice Flavian Zeija, the court allowed Kasibante to withdraw both his substantive petition and an application seeking access electoral data from the Electoral Commission of Uganda.
Eight of the nine justices ruled that each party should bear its own costs, reasoning that condemning Kasibante to pay costs would not advance national healing.
However, Justice Christopher Izama Madrama dissented on the issue of costs.
While agreeing to the withdrawal, he argued that under Section 61 of the Presidential Election Rules, a petitioner who withdraws a case should pay costs to the respondents, warning that failure to enforce this would undermine Parliament’s statutory mandate.
Kasibante on February 5, 2026 applied , to withdraw the petition, citing lack of financial capacity to conduct a nationwide forensic audit of electoral materials, including biometric voter verification systems and servers.
He conceded that without the requested evidence, the petition could not meet the required standard of proof.
The respondents including President Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General did not oppose the withdrawal but sought dismissal with costs, arguing they had expended substantial resources defending what they termed a meritless case.
Kasibante had alleged widespread irregularities, including violence, voter bribery, misuse of state resources and lack of transparency in vote counting, and had sought nullification of the results and fresh elections.
The withdrawal brings to a close proceedings arising from the January 15, 2026 presidential election, in which the Electoral Commission declared Museveni winner with 7,946,772 votes, ahead of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu who garnered 2,741,238 votes.
Other candidates included Nathan Nandala Mafabi, Gregory Mugisha Muntu, Mubarak Munyagwa and Frank Bulira.
Following the ruling, NRM Director for Legal Services Counsel Enoch Barata welcomed the decision, saying President Museveni is now set to be sworn in May for the 2026–2031 term of office.
Report by: Betty Zziwa
