Kampala, Uganda: The Supreme Court of Uganda has sealed President Yoweri Museveni’s landslide victory in the 2026 elections after it formally allowed the withdrawal of Robert Kasibante’s presidential petition and affirmed that the declared winner remains the duly elected President of Uganda.
In a unanimous decision on the withdrawal delivered Thursday, and read by Justice Muzamir Mutangula Kibeedi on behalf of Chief Justice Flavian Zeija and seven other justices, the court marked Presidential Petition No.1 of 2026 as withdrawn.
The petition had challenged the declaration of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as winner of the January 15, 2026 general election.
“There were only two occupants, the widow and the deceased…” — [Note: remove prior quote mismatch]
Instead, the court ruled:
“The unanimous decision of this Court is that the petition against the declared candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is conclusively taken as withdrawn, and he remains the duly elected President of Uganda.”
The justices held that the prosecution of the petition had not yielded sufficient evidence to sustain it, and that denying the petitioner an opportunity to withdraw would serve no useful purpose.
The panel comprised Chief Justice Zeija, Justices Percy Night Tuhaise, Mike Chibita, Elizabeth Musoke, Stephen Musota, Catherine Bamugemereire, Monica Kalyegira Mugenyi and Justice Kibeedi.
Division on Costs
On the question of costs, the panel was divided. Justice Christopher Madrama Izama issued a separate judgment dissenting on costs, maintaining that a petitioner who brings such a matter to court should ordinarily bear the consequences, including legal costs.
The majority, however, held that while the law provides that a petitioner “shall be liable” to pay costs upon withdrawal, the court retains discretion in determining how that liability is exercised.
In reaching its decision, the court examined comparative jurisprudence, including a 1982 Court of Appeal of Jamaica ruling interpreting similar election law provisions, as well as practices in neighbouring Kenya.
Balancing the need to deter frivolous petitions with the constitutional right of access to justice, the majority concluded that ordering costs against the petitioner would not promote reconciliation after a contested election.
“To condemn the petitioner to pay costs would not allow the healing process to move on,” the majority ruled, before ordering that each party bears its own costs.
Kasibante’s petition becomes the fifth presidential election petition to be withdrawn since the promulgation of the 1995 Constitution.
The ruling now clears the final legal hurdle ahead of Museveni’s swearing-in in May for his seventh elective five-year term, which will extend his leadership to 45 years in power by 2031.
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