Supreme Court To Rule On Withdrawal Right this moment time – Xavier Radio Ug

Used Presidential Candidate Robert Kasibante and his Attorneys on the Supreme Court in Kampala.
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Supreme Court is space to carry its long-awaited ruling this day, Thursday, on an utility by frail presidential candidate Robert Kasibante looking out out for to withdraw his presidential election petition. The ruling understand, issued below the hand and seal of the Registrar on February 23, 2026, summons the respondents and their attorneys to seem earlier than the Court. It warns that if no look is made by them, their pleaders, or any authorised representatives, the ruling may perchance even be delivered of their absence.
The topic is registered as Presidential Election Petition Miscellaneous Utility No. 03 of 2026 coming up from Presidential Election Petition No. 01 of 2026. Kasibante is the petitioner, whereas the respondents are President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the Electoral Fee, and the Attorney Fashioned of Uganda. The consciousness is additionally directed to their correct representatives, along side the Attorney Fashioned’s Chambers, Mwesigwa Rukutana & Co. Advocates, Ample & Ample Advocates, M/s Strand Advocates, and Isabirye & Co. Advocates.
The summons marks the final procedural step earlier than the Court determines whether or no longer to permit the withdrawal and on what phrases. Kasibante filed the fashioned petition captivating the terminate outcomes of the January 2026 presidential election and later sought access to backend electoral files held by the Electoral Fee to facilitate what he described as a nationwide forensic audit. Nonetheless, on February 5, 2026, he applied to withdraw both the substantive petition and the discovery utility.
The circulate adopted a closed-door assembly between a panel of nine Supreme Court justices and attorneys for all parties, chaired by Chief Justice Flavian Zeija. The assembly modified what had been scheduled as an commence courtroom session for the provision of a ruling on Kasibante’s discovery utility. Counsel had assembled in courtroom fully robed when the Registrar directed them to seem earlier than the justices in chambers. After about forty five minutes, the attorneys emerged and left with none commence courtroom session taking build apart. The Court later directed the respondents to formally reply to the withdrawal put a question to.
In affidavits filed in reply, the respondents indicated that whereas they build no longer oppose the withdrawal, they are asking the Court to brush apart the petition with charges. In an affidavit sworn by Enoch Barata, Director of Merely Services and products of the National Resistance Circulation and counsel for Museveni, the President maintains that he had adversarial both the petition and the discovery utility and sought their dismissal. He states that Museveni became validly elected in a free and radiant election conducted per the law and that the declared outcomes reflected the desire of the Ugandan of us.
While no longer objecting to the withdrawal, Museveni seeks charges for both the petition and the discovery utility. Barata emphasises that there became no settlement or settlement between Museveni and Kasibante relating to the withdrawal. He additionally notes that below the law, once a presidential election petition is withdrawn, the declared winner is conclusively deemed validly elected. The Electoral Fee adopts a identical build apart in an affidavit sworn by Stephen Tashobya of Mwesigwa Rukutana & Co. Advocates.
The Fee maintains that the election became conducted in compliance with the Structure and electoral rules and that the petition is perchance no longer proved on the readily available evidence. It additionally seeks charges, citing immense correct expenses incurred in defending the complaints. In a separate affidavit, Deputy Attorney Fashioned Jackson Kafuuzi Karugaba states that the Attorney Fashioned had adversarial both the petition and the discovery utility on grounds that they lacked advantage.
He affirms that the January 2026 presidential election became conducted per the Structure, the Presidential Elections Act, and the Electoral Fee Act. Kasibante only in the near past told journalists that he made up our minds to withdraw the petition after realising he lacked the monetary capability to maintain it. He explained that the nationwide forensic audit he sought would require specialised skills, sophisticated equipment, and big monetary resources.
Without evidence from the discovery utility, he conceded that the petition may perchance also no longer meet the wanted correct usual of proof. The Electoral Fee declared Museveni the winner of the January 2026 presidential election with 7,946,772 votes, adopted by opposition chief Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu with 2,741,238 votes.In his petition, Kasibante had requested the Supreme Court to nullify the election outcomes, citing alleged irregularities along side bribery, corruption, and the exercise of abusive language, and to direct unique elections alongside a total audit of electoral offers.
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www.just.co.ug, https://www.just.co.ug/kasibante-petition-supreme-courtroom-to-rule-on-withdrawal-this day/