The High Court in Kampala has dismissed separate election petitions challenging the election of Fredrick Ruhindi as Nakawa Division East MP and Joel Ssenyonyi as Nakawa Division West MP, allowing both legislators to retain their seats.

In the Nakawa Division East petition, Civil Division Judge Justice Allan Paul Nshimye dismissed a challenge filed by National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Waiswa Alex Mufumbiro against Ruhindi, who contested on the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket.

Mufumbiro had asked court to nullify the election, accusing the Electoral Commission (EC) of declaring results based on an incomplete tally. He cited discrepancies in declaration of results forms, alleged ballot stuffing and unusually high voter turnout at some polling stations.

However, in a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Nshimye found that most of the allegations had not been supported by sufficient evidence.

The judge acknowledged that the Electoral Commission had omitted results from 22 polling stations from the final tally but ruled that the omission did not substantially affect the outcome of the election.

In a separate petition, the court also dismissed a challenge by lawyer and politician Ivan Bwowe against Ssenyonyi’s election in Nakawa Division West.

Bwowe had questioned the validity of the nomination process, arguing that the Electoral Commission had nominated candidates under the designation “Nakawa West Constituency” instead of the legally established “Nakawa Division West Constituency”.

The petition named the Electoral Commission, the Kampala District Returning Officer and Ssenyonyi as respondents.

In his ruling, Justice Nshimye confirmed that the Commission had incorrectly described the constituency as “Nakawa West Constituency” on the declaration of nominated candidates forms issued to contestants.

The judge faulted the Electoral Commission for the error, warning that inaccuracies in official electoral documents could create opportunities for abuse of the electoral process.

Although the court upheld Ssenyonyi’s election, it ordered the Electoral Commission to pay costs to both Ssenyonyi and Bwowe over the nomination error.

The two judgments preserve the election victories of the Nakawa legislators while exposing shortcomings in the Electoral Commission’s handling of electoral documentation and the tallying process.