Museveni's victory is 'legal', Uganda's Supreme Court declares

Uganda’s Supreme Court dismissed the election petition filed by former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi after the February 20 polls, with no cost to any of the parties.

A panel of nine justices led by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe in its verdict said there were irregularities in the elections but did not affect the final result.

Former Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, who came third in the polls filed the petition citing irregularities.

#Uganda court has dismissed presidential election petition with no costs to any party. #UgPetition16 ntvuganda pic.twitter.com/DHyANN9a8C

— plplnews (plplnews) March 31, 2016

Both Internal and local observation teams said the elections lacked transparency and had been conducted in a manner that indicated intimidation.

However, Museveni immediately dismissed the accusations saying he does not need lectures from anybody.

On February 20, the Electoral Commission declared long time ruler Museveni the winner of the elections having garnered 60.7 per cent of the total votes cast.

The decision by the court cannot be overturned since the Supreme Court is both the first and last court in handling of presidential election petitions.

The Electoral Commission had announced that parties not satisfied with the results should petition the court.

Main opposition leader Kizza Besigye who came second in the polls failed to meet the ten-day deadline to petition against the results. Besigye petitioned the results of the 2006 and 2011 presidential elections.