The National Peasants Party (NPP) has defended its decision to challenge the outcome of the January 15, 2026 presidential election, insisting that its petition is grounded in verified evidence of widespread electoral irregularities.
Speaking on NBS Morning Breeze on Tuesday, NPP Secretary General Sharif Ssentongo Nambale said the party does not concede defeat, arguing that the integrity of the electoral process itself is at the centre of the dispute.
“We do not concede defeat. We are among those who did not receive declaration of results forms from the Electoral Commission,” Nambale said.
He said the party observed multiple inconsistencies during the electoral process, which it believes fundamentally undermined the credibility of the election.
“There were many inconsistencies during the process of the election. Ballot stuffing is one of the grounds in our petition. We have evidence of ballot stuffing during the election,” he said.
Nambale dismissed claims that the NPP’s legal challenge was symbolic or unserious, citing the scale of the documentation submitted to court.
“If we have the capacity to prepare a 352-page petition within two days, I don’t think we are jokers,” he said.
He added that the party’s conclusions were informed by direct engagement with voters across the country.
“We traversed the whole country, and we know what we got during the election. We are going to ensure that this election is nullified,” Nambale said.
His remarks follow the filing of a presidential election petition by NPP presidential candidate Robert Kasibante in the Supreme Court on Monday.
Kasibante is challenging the re-election of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, citing alleged electoral malpractice, violence and breaches of the law that he says substantially affected the outcome.
Kasibante, who finished sixth in the presidential race, filed the petition under Article 104 of the Constitution and Section 61 of the Presidential Elections Act.
The respondents listed are President Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General.
In the petition, Kasibante argues that the election was neither free nor fair and failed to meet constitutional and statutory standards.
A central allegation concerns the failure to gazette 15,256 polling stations before polling day. According to the petition, these stations, representing nearly 30 percent of all polling centres, were nonetheless used for voting, counting and tallying, disadvantaging candidates who could not deploy agents to monitor the process.
The petition also details claims of widespread violence and intimidation, particularly targeting opposition candidates.
Kasibante alleges that he and other candidates were subjected to harassment, teargas and physical assaults by security personnel.
He cites a specific incident on November 6, 2025, in Namisindwa District, where his campaign activities were allegedly disrupted by the Uganda Police Force and the Special Forces Command.
Similar incidents are alleged to have affected other opposition figures, including Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, Nathan Nandala Mafabi and Mubarak Munyagwa in different parts of the country.
Kasibante attributes responsibility to President Museveni in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief, accusing security agencies of partisan conduct, unlawful interference with opposition activities and involvement in the electoral process in favour of the incumbent.
Further concerns are raised over the use of Biometric Voter Verification (BVV) machines, which the petition says were deployed without a clear legal framework, were prone to malfunction and were not independently tested or audited.
As a result, election officials allegedly reverted to manual verification, creating opportunities for irregularities.
Additional allegations relate to the counting, tallying and transmission of results, including altered declaration forms, delayed transmission, discrepancies between polling station and district tallies, restricted access to tally centres and the premature announcement of results.
The petition also accuses the incumbent and his agents of voter bribery through the distribution of money and gifts.
According to results announced by Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama at the National Tally Centre in Lubowa, President Museveni secured 7,946,772 votes, representing 71.65 percent of the total valid votes cast.
His closest challenger, National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, garnered 2,741,238 votes, or 24.72 percent.
Kasibante polled 33,440 votes, accounting for 0.30 percent of the total.
Kasibante is asking the Supreme Court to nullify the election results, declare that Museveni was not duly elected, and order a fresh presidential poll.
He is also seeking a comprehensive audit of election returns and the BVV system, as well as costs of the petition.
The Supreme Court is yet to issue directions on the hearing of the case.
