The High Court in Mpigi has nullified the election of Gomba East MP Godfrey Saazi after finding that electoral irregularities at nine polling stations substantially affected the outcome of the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election.
In a judgment delivered on Monday, October 26, Justice Jameson Karemani set aside Saazi’s victory, declared the parliamentary seat vacant and directed the Electoral Commission to organise a fresh election.
The ruling followed a successful petition by National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate Henry Harris Kalule Kirumira, who challenged Saazi’s victory over alleged electoral irregularities, violence and the destruction of election materials.
Saazi, who contested on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, was declared winner with 10,907 votes against Kalule’s 9,156, giving him a winning margin of 1,751 votes.
However, the court found that the destruction of electoral materials at nine polling stations left the voting choices of 4,387 registered voters unknown, making it impossible to determine how their votes would have affected the final result.
Justice Karemani held that the irregularities substantially affected the election and warranted a fresh poll.
The court also examined the exclusion of results from four other polling stations, where a combined 959 voters were registered.
The affected stations were Buyana Trading Centre, Tiginya SDA Primary School, Kiziba Trading Centre and Buyinja Butoole Primary School B in Kigongo-Lugingi.
Kalule argued that voting had taken place at the four stations and that declaration of results forms had been completed and signed by candidates’ agents, but the results were omitted from the final tally.
The court found that the omitted results included 453 votes for Kalule and 366 for Saazi.
Had the votes been included, Kalule’s tally would have risen to 9,609, while Saazi’s would have increased to 11,273.
The adjustment would have reduced Saazi’s winning margin to 1,664 votes.
However, Justice Karemani ruled that the omission of the four stations’ results, although contrary to electoral requirements, did not by itself substantially affect the outcome because Saazi would still have won.
The judge reached a different conclusion regarding the nine polling stations where voting was disrupted and electoral materials destroyed.
The affected stations included Ttaba Trading Centre, Buyebeyi Church of Uganda, Kimbo Catholic Church, Serumbe UMEA Primary School, Jumbi Church of Uganda, Kindimunda Playground and St Peter Primary School in Ngeribalya.
The court found that the destruction of electoral materials made it impossible to establish the votes cast at the affected stations.
Although the respondents argued that it would be speculative to assume that all registered voters had turned up or that they would have voted for Kalule, the judge observed that the candidates would have received votes at the affected stations, as they had elsewhere.
Consequently, the court could not establish how the missing votes would have influenced the final tally.
Citing the case of Apollo Kantinti v Sitenda Sebalu and Another, Justice Karemani said courts must consider the number of voters affected by electoral irregularities in relation to the margin separating the candidates when determining whether the irregularities substantially affected an election.
In this case, the judge noted that Saazi’s reduced winning margin of 1,664 votes was less than half the number of registered voters whose electoral choices remained unknown.
The court consequently found that the failure to safeguard the electoral process and comply with electoral requirements substantially affected the election.
Saazi had maintained that the election was substantially free and fair and that the declared results reflected the will of the majority of voters.
He denied responsibility for the disruptions at the nine polling stations, instead blaming Kalule, his agents and supporters for the chaos that allegedly led to the destruction of electoral materials.
The Gomba District Returning Officer and the Electoral Commission attributed the omission of results from the four polling stations to a technical glitch discovered after polling. They argued that the omission did not substantially affect the outcome.
The respondents also maintained that the destruction of electoral materials at the nine stations affected all candidates equally and asked the court to dismiss the petition.
The judge, however, found that the failure by the returning officer and the Electoral Commission to safeguard the electoral process contributed to the non-compliance with electoral requirements.
The court ordered that Saazi’s election be set aside, declared the seat vacant and directed the Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh poll. Each party was ordered to bear its own legal costs.
Background
The dispute arose from the January 2026 parliamentary elections, in which Kalule challenged Saazi’s victory, citing alleged irregularities at several polling stations.
In March, Kalule filed a petition at the High Court in Mpigi, alleging that results from polling stations had been omitted and that violence, intimidation and the destruction of electoral materials had undermined the process.
He also raised concerns about the voter register and alleged vote-buying and assaults on his supporters.
Kalule argued that the irregularities made the declared results unreliable and asked the court to scrutinise the election and order appropriate remedies.
The petition placed the spotlight on the handling of election materials and the Electoral Commission’s responsibility to ensure that votes cast are properly recorded and included in the final tally.
The ruling now removes Saazi from Parliament and leaves the Gomba East constituency awaiting a fresh election.
The dispute also revives the political contest in a constituency that NUP wrested from the NRM in the 2021 general election.
In that election, Saazi defeated NRM candidate Emmanuel Kalule Ssengo with 17,097 votes against 7,177, according to Electoral Commission results.
The 2026 ruling now gives the Electoral Commission the task of organising another contest after the court found that the integrity of the election could not be established because of the missing electoral materials.
