Returning Officer Admits Declaring Babungi Bundibugyo Woman MP Winner Before Verifying Results

What the report says

The High Court in Fort Portal has heard fresh evidence in the election petition challenging the victory of Bundibugyo District Woman MP Josephine Bebona Babungi. Independent candidate Donna Kamuli Kapalaya is asking the court to overturn Babungi’s election after the parties closed their cases in Election Petition No. 002 of 2026. Lady Justice Joanita Gertrude Bushara is presiding over the matter.

According to Nile Post, Returning Officer Joseph Tumwijukye admitted in a sworn affidavit that he announced Babungi as the winner of the January 2026 parliamentary race before finishing verification of the tally sheet against the declaration of results forms. He said he was under pressure from candidates, their agents and the Electoral Commission headquarters when he made the announcement. Babungi, who ran on the National Resistance Movement ticket, was initially declared winner with 34,169 votes to Kapalaya’s 32,182, but later proceedings reported that verification produced a much narrower margin.

The petition raises allegations of vote manipulation, alterations to declaration forms and interference with polling agents, including claims that votes were added to Babungi’s tally and deducted from Kapalaya’s at more than 79 polling stations. The returning officer denied seeing ballot stuffing or other falsification firsthand.

The court is expected to rule on November 9, 2026. The case matters because it could affect the official result for the Bundibugyo Woman MP seat and test how far an election result can be adjusted after an early declaration, a question with broader significance for Uganda’s election dispute process.