Hajji Bisaso Welcomes Court Halt of Kassanda South Recount Over Missing Seal Records

What the report says

Hajji Abdul Bisaso, the National Resistance Movement MP for Kassanda South, has welcomed a High Court decision that paused a planned vote recount in an election petition challenging his win. The matter was heard in Mubende, and Acting Judge Mary Babirye stopped the sample recount after the parties were unable to produce documentation showing the seals and serial numbers for the ballot boxes.

The court had earlier ordered a recount of 29 polling stations to compare the declaration-of-results forms with the ballots from the January 15 election. Bisaso had been declared the winner with 11,765 votes, ahead of independent candidate Eria Mubiru, who got 11,050. According to the report, the ballot boxes were brought to court under police escort, but Bisaso’s lawyers objected to moving forward without verified seal records, arguing that the required paperwork had not been shared after the election and that there were chain-of-custody concerns.

Mubiru’s legal team opposed further delay, while the judge briefly gave both sides time to produce the missing records. When they were not submitted, she suspended the recount and directed that the electoral materials be returned to the Electoral Commission’s storage in Kassanda. The parties were also ordered to file final submissions within five days.

Bisaso said he was satisfied with the ruling, while the report notes that lawyers on both sides recognized the missing documentation as an issue. With the physical recount halted, the petition will now proceed on the evidence already filed.