The Kitgum High Court in Uganda has dismissed an application by Beatrice Atim Anywar, a former Kitgum Municipality MP candidate, seeking to compel the Electoral Commission to produce the voter register used in the January 15, 2026 parliamentary elections. Justice Amos Kwizera, in his ruling read by Chief Magistrate Robert Ekirita on Monday, September 21, 2026, stated that the applicant had failed to provide enough evidence to justify the request. Anywar had challenged the conduct, organisation, and management of the parliamentary elections in King Kong Municipality.
Anywar had asked the court to order the Electoral Commission to produce the certified voters’ register showing voters who cast ballots and those who did not. The application was based partly on allegations that deceased persons, people who had relocated, and other ineligible voters participated in the election. However, the Commission argued that the application was an afterthought and that neither the applicant nor her agents had lodged written complaints at polling stations during the election.
In his ruling, Justice Kwizera said although the voter register could be relevant to an election petition, its relevance alone does not automatically entitle a party to obtain it through discovery. He stated that an applicant seeking discovery must identify specific entries in the register, the particular voters alleged to have voted irregularly, the polling stations involved, and how production of the register would resolve an issue already properly raised before court.
The judge found that the allegations that deceased persons had voted were not sufficiently supported. He noted that the applicant had not identified the alleged deceased voters, the polling stations where they allegedly voted, or provided evidence establishing that they were dead at the time of the election. Justice Kwizera said a mere assertion that deceased persons voted was insufficient to establish the factual foundation required for discovery.
The court also rejected allegations of multiple voting, impersonation, ballot stuffing, and the recording of relocated voters as having voted, saying the claims were made in general terms without identifying specific polling stations, agents’ reports, declaration forms, or contemporaneous records to support them. The judge further questioned the reliance on information allegedly obtained from the applicant’s agents and supporters.
According to the ruling, the applicant did not claim to have personally witnessed the alleged irregularities but relied on information from agents and supporters. The court classified the evidence as hearsay because the people said to have witnessed the incidents were not presented to court to give direct evidence. Justice Kwizera said the discovery process should not be used to search for evidence that could later be used to develop or sustain an election petition.
The court ordered that the costs of the application would abide by the outcome of the main election petition. The petition had named the Independent Electoral Commission, Kitgum Municipality MP, Onekalit Denis Amere, and the Kitgum District Returning Officer, Betty Atim Owot, as respondents.
Key points
- The Kitgum High Court dismissed the application due to lack of sufficient evidence.
- The applicant, Beatrice Atim Anywar, had sought the voter register to support her election petition.
- The court ruled that the discovery process should not be used to search for evidence to develop or sustain an election petition.
