By Sadique Bamwita
KAMPALA
As the country prepares to go to polls this week on Thursday January 15, 2026, City Lawyer, Mahad Kawuma has today January 12,2026, dragged the Electoral Commission headed by Justice Simon Byabakama Mugyenyi and the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka to court for denominating opposition candidates from the boiling 2026 polls.
Kawuma has petitioned the constitutional court in Kampala seeking to have the powers of the Electoral Commission to nullify candidates in the race for different positions to be taken over by the courts of law since it’s the same Electoral Commission that nominates the candidates and later nullifies their candidature.
“Once a candidate is duly nominated by a Returning Officer of the Electoral Commission, such nomination creates legal rights and legitimate expectations protected by the Constitution,” the petition reads.
Kawuma expressed grave concern saying that the Electoral Commission has developed and continues to apply a practice of entertaining complaints, reviews, or objections after nomination and purporting to denominate, disqualify, or nullify candidates already validly nominated.
In his petition, Kawuma further seeks placement of a specified legal time frame within which a nominated candidate can be disqualified from an elective position following his/her nomination to run for a political office.
However, his petition comes just days after the Electoral commission has nullified over 10 candidates from different positions, mainly from the National Unity Platform (NUP) across the country.
A week ago, the embattled electoral body disqualified 11 candidates from the Makindye Division mayoral race and declared NRM’s Yasin Omar unopposed.
