In Summary: The High Court in Kampala has dismissed NUP deputy spokesperson Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro’s election petition challenging Fredrick Ruhindi’s victory in Nakawa Division East, ruling that the evidence presented did not justify overturning the results.
Kampala, Uganda — The High Court has dismissed an election petition filed by National Unity Platform (NUP) deputy spokesperson Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro challenging the election of National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Fredrick Ruhindi as Member of Parliament for Nakawa Division East Constituency.
In his concluding remarks, Justice Allan Nshimye ruled that the evidence presented by Mufumbiro did not establish grounds for setting aside Ruhindi’s election. “The evidence on record adduced by the petitioner does not support the prayer to set aside the election of the first respondent as the duly elected Member of Parliament for Nakawa Division East Constituency,” the judge ruled.
The decision dismissed Election Petition No. 12 of 2026, affirming Ruhindi as the duly elected MP. The court also ordered each party to bear its own costs.
Mufumbiro had challenged the election on several grounds, including the exclusion of results from 22 polling stations, discrepancies in voter records, alleged inflated vote tallies and tampering with declaration of results forms.
However, the court found that although results from the 22 polling stations had not been included in the final tally, their omission did not substantially affect the election outcome.
Justice Nshimye also questioned the evidential basis of several allegations, particularly documents presented as uncertified photocopies of declaration of results forms.
Relying on Section 68 of the Evidence Act and the Supreme Court decision in Karuhanga v Electoral Commission, the judge held that uncertified copies of public documents could not be relied upon as authentic evidence in the circumstances presented.
The court further found that Mufumbiro had failed to establish that he obtained more votes than Ruhindi.
On allegations of unusually high voter turnout at some polling stations, the judge questioned the accuracy of evidence presented by one of the petitioner’s witnesses, Wilson Kato Kenneth.
Kato had initially claimed that voter turnout at Staff Nursery Primary School stood at 99.99 per cent but admitted during cross-examination that the actual figure was 66.78 per cent.
The court also noted that several polling agents representing Mufumbiro had signed the disputed declaration of results forms, but only two of those agents were called to testify about the alleged irregularities.
Examining individual results forms, Justice Nshimye found no evidence of alterations affecting the recorded votes at Kasasiro OMUZ polling station. The candidates’ combined votes totalled 189, matching the figure entered by the presiding officer.
The judge also found that discrepancies in the gender breakdown of voters recorded on some declaration forms were insufficient to invalidate the election where individual candidates’ votes and the total valid votes had been properly recorded.
The dismissal brings Mufumbiro’s legal challenge to Ruhindi’s election to an end at the High Court, with the judge finding that the alleged irregularities, considered individually and collectively, had not been established as grounds for overturning the results.
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