The High Court has nullified the election of Elias Lukwago Nalukoola as Member of Parliament for Kawempe North and directed the Electoral Commission to organise a fresh by-election, citing irregularities that substantially affected the results of the 2021 vote.
In a ruling delivered on May 26, 2025, via email and the Judiciary’s electronic court management system, Justice Bernard Namanya found that Nalukoola, a member of the National Unity Platform (NUP), personally violated the law by campaigning on election day — an offence that directly contravenes Section 100 of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The petition challenging Nalukoola’s election was brought by Faridah Nambi, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, who accused him and his agents of several electoral malpractices.
The March 13, 2025, by-election to fill the seat left following the death of Muhammad Ssegirinya was marred by violence with journalists targeted for assault by security agents.
While Justice Namanya dismissed most of the allegations — including claims of bribery, obstruction of voters and election officials — he upheld the charge that Nalukoola campaigned at polling stations on voting day, a prohibited act under Ugandan electoral law.
Testimony from witnesses Gordon Salim Saleh, Niwamanya Saliva, and Kalenzi Medi placed Nalukoola at Mbogo Primary School playground and Kazo Angola LCI Office between 11am and 12pm on polling day.
Although Nalukoola denied the accusation in a general affidavit, the court found he had failed to rebut the specific claims or produce any evidence from his agents stationed at the affected polling stations.
The judge also noted that during cross-examination, Nalukoola admitted to moving around the constituency to “inspect the voting process” after casting his vote at 11am.
“The law does not permit the 1st respondent to deny generally,” Justice Namanya wrote, citing precedents from higher courts.
“When evidence is not challenged by any other evidence or in cross-examination, it is deemed to be admitted.”
He concluded that the petitioner had proven, on a balance of probabilities, that Nalukoola personally engaged in prohibited campaign activities on polling day.
The court further ruled that the Electoral Commission’s failure to tally and transmit results from 14 polling stations, where chaos and violence disrupted vote counting, resulted in the disenfranchisement of 16,640 voters.
These included the petitioner herself, who was registered at Mbogo Primary School — one of the polling stations whose results were never accounted for.
Witnesses told the court that although voting occurred at those 14 polling stations, the counting process was disrupted by violence, and no results were declared.
The Electoral Commission, through its returning officer Henry Makabayi, admitted that it failed to account for results from those stations and stated that all electoral materials — including declaration forms, ballot boxes, and biometric voter verification kits — had been lost during the unrest.
The judge found that the Commission not only failed in its constitutional duty to safeguard the right to vote, but also neglected to exercise its legal powers to adjourn the electoral process as required by Sections 64, 71, 72, 76, and 77 of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
“Due to the violence that marred the electoral exercise, the Electoral Commission had the option of postponing polling or vote counting or tallying of results to the next day… but it failed in its duty,” Justice Namanya wrote.
“The Commission also failed to keep safe custody of electoral materials in contravention of the law.”
Nalukoola had argued that the affected 14 polling stations constituted just 7.1% of the total 197 polling stations in Kawempe North, and that his wide lead — 17,939 votes to Nambi’s 9,058 — could not have been overturned even if the missing votes were counted in her favour.
But the court disagreed, holding that the disenfranchisement was significant and undermined the integrity of the election.
In light of these findings — Nalukoola’s personal violation of the campaign-day restrictions and the Electoral Commission’s failure to ensure a fair and inclusive process — the judge nullified the results and ordered fresh elections.
Nalukoola becomes the latest MP to lose a parliamentary seat through court action since the 2021 general elections, in a wave of legal challenges that have spotlighted persistent irregularities in Uganda’s electoral processes.
The date of the by-election is yet to be announced by the Electoral Commission.