The Electoral Commission (EC) has come out strongly in defense of the recently concluded Kawempe North by-election, asking the court not to cancel the results over claims that lack evidence. According to the EC, allowing such petitions to succeed without solid proof would open the door for future election disruptions and endless court challenges.
In court, EC lawyer Eric Sabiiti stated that the petition calling for a fresh election had no real basis and should not force the country into another vote. He explained that the violence, which occurred in 14 polling stations, should not be reason enough to throw out the results of the entire election.
Sabiiti pointed out that the election day itself was largely peaceful, with a high voter turnout and voting ending on time at 4 p.m. The problems started during the sorting and tallying of votes when it became clear who the likely winner was. At that point, a mob attacked the tallying center and destroyed essential election materials, including ballot boxes, Declaration of Results (DR) forms, and the report book. Because of this, the returning officer had to declare the winner using the available results, as the law does not allow election results to be delayed indefinitely. “You cannot tally for life,” Sabiiti told the court.
He also defended the actions of the returning officer, saying that while the law doesn’t specifically require the officer to leave the scene during violence, it does require them to report any such incidents to police, which was done the following day. Investigations into the violence are still ongoing, but the EC could not wait for the process to be completed before announcing the results.
Sabiiti warned that if the court ordered a fresh election in those 14 polling stations, it could create a dangerous trend where politicians and their supporters feel encouraged to cause chaos whenever results don’t go their way. “We will have opened the door for politicians to organize mobs and disrupt elections,” he cautioned.
He further argued that even the petitioner, Faridah Nambi Kigongo, had admitted that she was unlikely to win in those particular polling stations. That means a fresh vote in those areas would not change the overall result, especially since the results from the rest of the constituency had already been declared.
In conclusion, Sabiiti said the Electoral Commission followed the law, the election was fair in most places, and there’s no justification for calling for a rerun based on isolated violence with no strong evidence of widespread failure.
