The High Court in Kampala has dismissed a parliamentary election petition filed by Ivan Bwowe challenging the election of Nakawa Division West MP Joel Ssenyonyi, but faulted the Electoral Commission for errors in the nomination documents that triggered the dispute.
In a judgment delivered on October 30, 2026, Justice Allan Paul M. Nshimye dismissed Election Petition No. HCT-00-CV-EP-0011-2026, ruling that Bwowe had failed to provide crucial evidence to prove that the January 15, 2026 election was conducted in violation of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
However, the judge criticised the Electoral Commission for issuing nomination documents that described the constituency as Nakawa West instead of its gazetted name, Nakawa Division West, saying the error had exposed the electoral process to possible abuse and resulted in unnecessary litigation.
Bwowe had argued that Ssenyonyi was never validly nominated to contest for Nakawa Division West because his nomination documents indicated that he was seeking election in Nakawa West, which he described as a non-existent parliamentary constituency.
He maintained that Nakawa West is a separate local government electoral area, designated under code 02 for the election of a city woman councillor, and is not a gazetted parliamentary constituency.
Bwowe contended that by accepting nomination papers bearing the name Nakawa West and subsequently allowing the candidates to participate in an election for Nakawa Division West, the Electoral Commission had effectively created a hybrid constituency contrary to electoral law.
He further argued that he was the only candidate who had correctly sought nomination for the gazetted Nakawa Division West Constituency and should therefore have been declared unopposed.
He asked court to declare Ssenyonyi’s nomination illegal, null and void, set aside his election and declare him the duly elected MP for Nakawa Division West.
The Electoral Commission and the Kampala District Returning Officer opposed the petition, maintaining that Ssenyonyi had been validly nominated, elected and gazetted after obtaining the highest number of votes.
They argued that Bwowe had previously challenged the nominations before the Electoral Commission and subsequently appealed its decision to the High Court, which upheld the nominations, describing the discrepancy in the constituency name as a clerical error that could be corrected.
The respondents further argued that the fresh petition was barred by the doctrine of res judicata because the nomination dispute had already been determined by a competent court.
Ssenyonyi also maintained that Nakawa West and Nakawa Division West were used interchangeably and that the discrepancy had been corrected through the Electoral Commission’s nomination control form.
However, Justice Nshimye distinguished between disputes arising before polling and complaints concerning compliance with electoral laws during the election process.
He held that although the petitioner had previously challenged Ssenyonyi’s nomination, the High Court retained jurisdiction to examine whether the subsequent election was conducted in compliance with the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The judge consequently ruled that the nomination dispute could not be reopened because it had already been determined in an earlier case, Bwowe Ivan versus Electoral Commission and seven others, under Pre-Election Petition No. 0008 of 2025.
He nevertheless allowed the separate ground concerning non-compliance with electoral law to proceed, noting that it had not been determined in the earlier proceedings.
Under Section 80(1)(a) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, an election can be set aside where there is non-compliance with the provisions of the Act relating to elections, provided the failure to conduct the election in accordance with the law substantially affected its result.
In examining the evidence, Justice Nshimye found discrepancies between the nomination documents issued to the candidates and the official election results.
The judge noted that on October 22, 2025, at 1:16pm, the Kampala District Returning Officer completed a Declaration of Nominated Candidate form indicating that Ssenyonyi had been nominated to contest for Member of Parliament for Nakawa West Constituency.
A similar form issued to Bwowe on October 23, 2025, at 1:38pm also indicated that he had been nominated for Nakawa West Constituency.
However, the official Return Form for Transmission of Results signed on January 17, 2026, identified the election as having been conducted for Nakawa Division West Constituency, code 353.
The results showed that Ssenyonyi, who contested on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, won with 21,761 votes, while NRM’s Herbert Anderson Burora obtained 9,586 votes.
Bwowe, who contested on the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) ticket, received 271 votes.
Other candidates included Wilberforce Kyambadde of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), who obtained 396 votes; Felix Okuye, an independent candidate, with 404 votes; Happy Nasasira of the Democratic Front (DF), with 301 votes; Vincent Norbert Okumu of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), with 198 votes; and Apuuli Rwamiti of the Conservative Party, who received 242 votes.
Justice Nshimye observed that the nomination documents for both Bwowe and Ssenyonyi indicated that they had been nominated for Nakawa West, while the results were subsequently declared for Nakawa Division West.
He further noted that the Electoral Commission was expected to know that Nakawa West existed as a local government electoral area and was different from the gazetted parliamentary constituency.
The judge also pointed to Section 46 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, which requires the Electoral Commission to publish in the Uganda Gazette lists of nominated candidates for each constituency.
However, he found that Bwowe had not attached the relevant gazette listing the nominated candidates, which would have helped court establish the constituency under which the candidates had officially been nominated.
Justice Nshimye said the Electoral Commission was required to comply with the law when conducting nominations and publishing the names of candidates.
He concluded that without the gazette, Bwowe had failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish that the election had been conducted in violation of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
Consequently, the court found that the petitioner had not proved his case on the balance of probabilities and dismissed the petition.
Despite dismissing the case, the judge strongly cautioned the Electoral Commission against repeating the errors that led to the dispute.
He observed that the nomination forms for all candidates in the Nakawa Division West parliamentary election had incorrectly indicated Nakawa West instead of the correct gazetted constituency name.
Justice Nshimye warned that such errors could create opportunities for abuse of the electoral process, giving an example of a situation where an Electoral Commission official could issue a candidate with nomination documents for Nakawa Division East and later allow the candidate to contest in Nakawa Division West on the explanation that the earlier documents contained a mistake.
He said the error by the Commission had contributed to the litigation, although the petition ultimately failed because Bwowe did not provide the necessary gazette evidence.
The judge consequently ordered the Electoral Commission to pay a quarter of the costs incurred by both Bwowe and Ssenyonyi in defending and prosecuting the petition.
The judgment concluded that Election Petition No. HCT-00-CV-EP-0011-2026 was dismissed, with the Electoral Commission ordered to meet a quarter of the petitioner’s and third respondent’s costs.
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