KAMPALA.
In a dramatic turn of events , the High Court in Kampala has annulled the election of Elias Luyimbazi Nalukoola as legislator for Kawempe North Constituency after spending two months in Parliament .
In the Monday ruling delivered by Justice Bernard Namanya, the court declared Kawempe North parliamentary seat vacant due to illegal campaign activities and widespread voter disenfranchisement .
Court found that the by-election held earlier this year did not comply with provisions of the Parliamentary Elections Act, and that the irregularities substantially affected the outcome of the vote.
Justice Namanya said court reached the decision to set aside the election of Nalukoola for two main reasons.
The first one is that “16,640 voters in the constituency including Nambi Faridah Kigongo were denied the right to vote (disenfranchised) which affected the result of the election in a substantial manner.”
The judge further said Nalukoola “personally campaigned on election day at Mbogo Primary School Playground (KAT–MAJ) and Kazo Angola (KAL–KZ) at LCI Office polling stations which is an offence under Section 100 (1) (a) and (b) and Section 100 (2) (a) and (3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act (Cap. 177).”
Quoting the court’s final orders, Justice Namanya stated: “That the election of Luyimbazi Elias Nalukoola as a Directly Elected Member of Parliament for Kawempe Division North constituency in Kampala District is set aside.”
The judge further ruled that, “the seat for the Directly Elected Member of Parliament for Kawempe Division North constituency in Kampala District is declared vacant.”
Costs
Justice Namanya also ordered that, “the Electoral Commission is ordered to conduct a fresh election for the Directly Elected Member of Parliament for Kawempe Division North constituency in Kampala District” and that, “each party shall meet its own costs.”
The decision follows a petition filed by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its candidate, Ms Nambi Faridah Kigongo, who accused the Electoral Commission of failing to return results from multiple polling stations, thereby disenfranchising thousands of voters. Nambi is the daughter of Hajj Moses Kigongo ,the NRM national vice chairperson
The petition also cited allegations of election day malpractices including voter bribery, illegal campaigning, and obstruction of voters and officials by the declared winner’s campaign team.
This comes exactly 26 days after the Electoral Commission had finally gazetted the results from the March 13, 2025 Kawempe North MP by-election which saw Nalukoola declared the winner.
The March 20,2025 Gazette notice also showed an increase in Mr Nalukoola’s votes by 175.
The gazette notice, however, indicated that the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, Faridah Nambi got 9,058 votes, contrary to the initial 8,593 declared by the returning officer on March 14.
The gazettement followed mounting pressure on the electoral commission to gazette the Mr Nalukoola, several days after he was declared the winner of the hotly contested bloody by-election held amid heavy deployment of security operatives, including UPDF and Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT).
At least 20 journalists who had been deployed to cover the elections were assaulted or arrested by security operatives during the exercise which also left several members of the opposition, especially the National Unity Platform (NUP) injured or arrested.
Earlier, NUP officials led by the Secretary-General, David Lewis Rubongoya stormed the EC offices to demand an explanation for the delays in gazetting him.
Mr Rubongoya wondered why the commission had dragged its feet this time when it had previously acted swiftly in gazetting other winners, especially from the ruling National Resistance Movement.