Museveni’s re-election as President challenged in court

President Yoweri Museveni has expressed preparedness to respond to the court petition in which his former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi has challenged the results of last month’s presidential elections.

Museveni was on Thursday evening served with court papers of the election petition lodged by Mbabazi at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In the petition, Museveni who is accused together with the Attorney General and Electoral Commission, is expected within three days to file his defense on a number of issues that Mbabazi says “grossly undermined the electoral processes.”

The hearing of the petition is expected to commence on Monday next week.

The ten-day window within which any aggrieved person can challenge a presidential election lapsed on Tuesday without the Forum for Democratic Change presidential flag bearer Kizza Besigye lodging his petition.

FDC President Major Gen. Mugisha Muntu said their candidate was unable to file a petition because the police confined him to his home almost since Election Day, arresting him every time he attempted to move out.

Opposition leaders have disputed the win saying that the polling process was marred by rigging, voter intimidation and bribery.

Earlier on, Besigye discredited the electoral body saying that the EC was biased.

“The Electoral Commission is not independent and its technical incompetence and partisanship has been made clear for all to see. The voting material was not delivered in time. People were unlawfully removed from the Voters’ Register whilst ghosts were wantonly added,” read the statement.

The opposition leader, who served as Museveni’s personal doctor when they were guerilla fighters, was detained numerous times in the run-up to the elections, arrests that his supporters were quick to pin on the 71-year-old president.

Museveni garnered 5,971,872 votes while Museveni’s fiercest rival Kizza Besigye was second with 3,270,290 while former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi was third with 132,574 votes.

The win guarantees Museveni, who has led the country for 30 years, another five-year term.

Election observers have, however, expressed their reservations with the election outcome, with EU EOM saying the playing ground was not free and fair.

The EU observer mission said the election had been conducted in an “intimidating” atmosphere, while Commonwealth observers said the poll “fell short of meeting some key democratic benchmarks”.