The Masaka Chief Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday suspended a planned vote recount in the hotly contested Kalungu East parliamentary election after several ballot boxes were found tampered with, casting doubt on the integrity of the electoral materials.
The courtroom was packed with supporters of both the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and the National Unity Platform (NUP), reflecting the high political stakes surrounding the case.
The recount had been ordered last week by Chief Magistrate Albert Asiimwe following an application by NRM candidate Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, who is challenging the victory of NUP’s Yusuf Kiruluuta Nkerettanyi.
According to results declared by the Kalungu District Returning Officer, Nkerettanyi won the race with 15,473 votes against Ssempijja’s 13,219, a margin of 2,254 votes.
Ssempijja, however, rejected the outcome, insisting that the declaration was based on errors made during the tallying process. Through his lawyer Simon Kasangaki, he argued that the vote tally was distorted by exaggerated figures, missing polling stations, and fictitious votes, claiming that his review of Declaration of Results (DR) forms showed he narrowly defeated his rival.
Despite objections from Nkerettanyi’s legal team, led by Samuel Muyizzi, the court initially ruled that a physical recount was the best way to resolve the dispute.
Muyizzi had argued that the application relied on questionable DR forms, including multiple versions from the same polling stations with differing figures and signatures.
The recount, however, stalled before it could begin. When court officials and lawyers moved to the Kalungu District Electoral Commission offices to sort ballot boxes, they discovered that two boxes were completely unsealed, while four others had broken seals. The circumstances under which the seals were interfered with were not immediately clear.
Faced with uncertainty over the integrity of the ballots, Chief Magistrate Asiimwe halted the exercise, ruling that the court could not proceed with a recount under such conditions.
He advised Ssempijja to seek redress in the High Court through an election petition, noting that the High Court has broader powers to investigate disputes involving compromised electoral materials.
Meanwhile, Muyizzi maintained that the recount order itself was flawed, arguing that it was issued outside the legally prescribed timelines. He said the defence plans to seek judicial review, insisting that the matter falls within the mandate of the Electoral Commission.
As supporters from both camps exited the court, the suspension left the Kalungu East contest unresolved, effectively shifting the legal battle from the magistrate’s court to the High Court. Under the law, once a court orders a recount but the ballot boxes are found to have been tampered with, the court cannot proceed with the exercise and must uphold the originally declared election results.
