KAMPALA, Uganda — Robert Kasibante, a former presidential candidate, has asked the Supreme Court for leave to withdraw his challenge to the 2026 presidential election, citing high costs and technical demands.
In an application filed before the court, Kasibante seeks permission to discontinue the presidential election petition he lodged against President-elect Yoweri Museveni, the Electoral Commission and the attorney general.
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Kasibante contested the election on the National Peasants Party ticket and placed sixth in the final results.
Alongside the main petition, he is also seeking to withdraw a separate application in which he requested a nationwide audit of electoral materials. The audit application targeted election returns, biometric voter verification data, scanners and electoral servers used during the polls.
In his filings, Kasibante explains that undertaking the proposed audit would involve analyzing an extremely large volume of electronic data from across the country. He states that the financial cost of carrying out such an exercise is excessively high and beyond his ability to sustain.
He further argues that the nature and scale of the data would require the engagement of specialized and independent forensic experts, making the discovery process both technically complex and financially impractical.
Kasibante has also asked the court to order that each party bears its own costs, stating that he should not be penalized with costs arising from the petition.
The application to withdraw comes at a time when the Supreme Court had been expected to rule on Kasibante’s request for access to information used by the Electoral Commission to declare Museveni the winner of the Jan. 15, 2026, presidential election.
In his petition, Kasibante had accused the Electoral Commission of conducting the election in total noncompliance with the law. He also alleged that Museveni committed several electoral offenses, including bribery, corruption and the use of abusive language during the campaign period.
Additionally, Kasibante claimed that voting took place at about 15,000 polling stations that were not duly gazetted. He had asked the court to nullify Museveni’s election and order a fresh presidential poll.
