Uganda’s Supreme Court, packed with judges appointed by the country’s dictator of 35 years, has formally recognized Bobi Wine’s withdrawal of his legal challenge to the rigged Jan. 14 presidential elections.
The nine justices of the Ugandan Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo unanimously allowed Bobi Wine, a member of Parliament whose given names are Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu to withdraw his petition asking for the court to annul the “results” of the election.
The challenger withdrew his challenge after the court rejected his motion to amend his petition and add evidence, including videos showing soldiers stuffing ballot boxes with pre-ticked votes, and other election crimes. The country’s dictator Gen. Yoweri Museveni was hoping the Supreme Court would provide legal cover for the rigged election.
Even though Gen. Museveni’s regime had shut down the country’s entire internet system, meaning no data could be transmitted, the election commission announced that Museveni had beat the main challenger Bobi Wine by 59% to 35%. The challenger rejected the announced results as a “joke.” The internet was only partially restored several days after the “results” announcement. No breakdown of votes from the more than 35,000 polling stations accompanied the results as required by the constitution. This week, the election commission even posted on its website a bogus declaration of results form, a document generated in each polling station, with vote tallies. The election commission’s members, led by Simon Byabakama, are also all hand-picked by Gen. Museveni.
The U.S. called the election “fundamentally flawed” and the EU Parliament condemned the violence that accompanied the process. The EU Parliament said the outcome was not credible recommended sanctions. The U.S. is also considering punitive measures.
The court has yet to rule on whether Bobi Wine will have to bear any financial cost for the court challenge.
