KAMPALA, Uganda — Former presidential candidate Robert Kasibante has applied to the Supreme Court for permission to withdraw his petition challenging the results of Uganda’s 2026 presidential election, citing prohibitive costs and technical complexity.
In a Notice of Motion filed this week, Kasibante seeks to withdraw Presidential Election Petition No. 1 of 2026, which named President Yoweri Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General as respondents.
He also asked the court to allow the withdrawal of a related request for a comprehensive audit of election materials, including declaration forms, biometric records and electoral servers. Kasibante’s application states the audit would require processing a vast volume of national electronic data at an estimated cost far beyond his financial means.
According to the application, Kasibante argues that conducting such an audit would require processing an enormous volume of electronic data from across the country. He states that the estimated cost of executing the exercise is extremely high and well beyond his financial means.
The petitioner further notes that the scale and technical sophistication of the electronic data involved would necessitate the engagement of highly specialised and independent forensic experts, rendering the discovery process impractical to sustain within the framework of a presidential election petition.
Kasibante has also asked the court to order that each party bears its own legal costs arising from both the petition and the related application.
The motion is brought under Section 63 of the Presidential Elections Act, the Presidential Election Petitions Rules, and the inherent powers of the court. The Supreme Court is yet to fix a date for hearing the application. If granted, the withdrawal would bring to an end one of the legal challenges arising from the 2026 presidential elections.
Kasibante’s application comes at a time when the Supreme Court was expected to deliver a ruling on his request seeking access to back-end data relied upon by the Electoral Commission in declaring President Museveni the winner of the January 15, 2026, elections.
In his filings, Kasibante accused the commission of declaring the election results in total non-compliance with the law. He further alleged that the incumbent committed several electoral offences, including bribery, corruption, and the use of abusive language. He also claimed that voting took place at more than 15,000 polling stations that were not gazetted.
