The judge noted that the district returning officer, Everest Twinomujuni, had explained that the alterations could have resulted from corrections made by presiding officers while completing the declaration of results forms.
The High Court in Mpigi has dismissed an election petition challenging Amelia Kyambadde’s victory in the Mawokota County North parliamentary election, confirming her as the duly elected Member of Parliament.
In a judgment delivered on November 13, 2026, Justice Jamson Karemani ruled that petitioner Hillary Innocent Kiyaga had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove allegations of electoral malpractice, including the alleged alteration of declaration of results forms at several polling stations.
The court also dismissed Kiyaga’s argument that Kyambadde was ineligible to contest because she had previously served as a Senior Presidential Advisor, finding that the position did not constitute public service employment requiring resignation under the law.
Kyambadde was declared the winner of the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election with 27,075 votes against Kiyaga’s 24,801, giving her a majority of 2,274 votes.
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Kiyaga subsequently petitioned the court, alleging that election officials had altered declaration of results forms at 24 polling stations, reducing his votes and inflating those of Kyambadde. He also challenged results from several polling stations where candidates’ agents had allegedly not signed the declaration forms.
However, Justice Karemani found that Kiyaga had not established that the alterations were fraudulent or intended to manipulate the election results.
The judge noted that the district returning officer, Everest Twinomujuni, had explained that the alterations could have resulted from corrections made by presiding officers while completing the declaration of results forms.
Twinomujuni told court that he received the forms in the condition in which they were presented, displayed them during tallying and read out the results before declaring Kyambadde the winner.
The judge observed that Kiyaga had not raised any complaint during the display and tallying of the results, despite being present at the tally centre.
The court held that alterations on declaration of results forms do not automatically amount to an electoral offence unless there is credible evidence establishing fraudulent intention.
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Justice Karemani said the returning officer’s explanation had not been controverted by other evidence and found no sufficient basis to conclude that the alterations were made with fraudulent motives.
The judge also found that the evidence presented by Kiyaga, including copies of declaration of results forms obtained from some of his agents, was insufficient to displace the official certified forms held by the Electoral Commission.
The judge further rejected the complaint concerning declaration of results forms that were not countersigned by candidates’ agents.
He observed that the forms in question had been signed by presiding officers, although the agents of the candidates had not appended their signatures. Citing Section 66(7) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, he noted that the failure or refusal by candidates or their agents to sign declaration forms does not, by itself, invalidate election results.
The judge also made significant findings regarding the evidence presented by Kiyaga. He struck out 22 affidavits filed by the petitioner’s election agents for failure to comply with the Illiterates Protection Act, which requires the identification of the person who writes and translates an affidavit for an illiterate deponent.
He ruled that the affidavits did not identify the individuals who had prepared and translated them, making them incurably defective. However, he allowed the petition to proceed based on the remaining admissible evidence.
The judge also struck out Kiyaga’s supplementary affidavit, which had been filed in September, four months after the initial pleadings had closed, without the court’s permission.
On Kyambadde’s eligibility, the court found that Kiyaga had waived his opportunity to challenge her nomination by failing to raise the matter with the Electoral Commission before the election, despite having an opportunity to inspect her nomination documents.
The judge further ruled that the position of Senior Presidential Advisor did not qualify as public service employment requiring resignation under Article 80(4) of the Constitution. He also found that Kyambadde had submitted a resignation letter to the Secretary, Office of the President, which was formally accepted on June 10, 2025.
Having found no proven breach of electoral laws, Justice Karemani said there was no need to examine whether any alleged non-compliance had substantially affected the election outcome.
He consequently dismissed the petition, confirmed Kyambadde as the directly elected MP for Mawokota County North and ordered each party to bear its own costs.
The judgment was delivered electronically on November 13, 2026.