Former Entebbe Municipality Mayor, Vincent DePaul Kayanja’s election petition against Fabrice Rulinda and the Electoral Commission will go to re-trial.
Kayanja May 2021 filed a petition asking court to nullify Rulinda’s victory and rather declare him as the duly elected Mayor of Entebbe Municipality.
However High Court Judge, Justice Isaac Muwata dismissed the petition with costs in September last year.
The Court of Appeal ruling of Friday 6th May 2022 revoked Justice Mawata’s ruling setting the matter for another hearing.
Speaking to Journalists after the ruling, Kayanja said he will not relent until the mandate of his constituents is respected.
“Democracy is not given but earned. My constituents need to note that this is not my fight or for the Democratic party. My aim is to ensure that their freedoms are respected.” he said
Rulinda an Independent Candidate was declared the winner with 6,703 votes while Kayanja got 5,576 votes in the 2021 polls.
But Kayanja challenged his rival’s victory alleging that there was falsification of results in 74 polling stations.
He alleged that at Lunyo East polling station A to KAS, 20 votes were allegedly announced but the declaration of result form shows that the Returning Officer inflated the entry, declared and tallied 578 votes for Rulinda among many other polling stations.
Kayanja also alleged that the elections were marred with violence and that the Returning Officer and other officials at Wakiso District Tally Center also refused to use electronic display system as required by law to enable transparent tallying of results; thereby denying him and his agents an opportunity to match results that were being entered for the declaration by the Returning Officer.
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