lies in a citizenry conscious of its civil responsibilities and willing to take
the trouble of exercising the right.
[106] He also adopted the decision of the Supreme Court of Uganda in the
case of Rtd. Col. Dr. Kiza Besigye v. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
And Electoral Commission32, where the Court defined free and fair
elections to be where, inter alia, the electoral process is free from
intimidation, bribery, violence, coercion, and results are announced in good
time.
[107] Secondly, as regards the changes to the electoral law, he submitted
that following the recommendation of a Bi-Partisan Joint Parliamentary
Committee, the various amendments to election law, geared towards
enhancing the conduct of free and fair elections, were made. They included
Sections 39 and 44 of the Elections Act which were amended to provide for
the manner in which Presidential election results would be declared and
published after close of polling and the introduction of the use of
technology in transmission of results. That Regulation 79 of the Elections
(General) Regulations as amended by L/N No. 72/2017 also introduced
Forms 34A, B, and C for the purposes of declaration of Presidential election
results while Regulation 83 was amended to introduce Regulation 83(2)
which provides that the Chairperson of the Commission shall tally and
verify the results at the NTC. The KIEMS system to be introduced under
Section 44 further had a complementary manual system (which was upheld
by the Court of Appeal in the case of National Super Alliance (NASA)
32
Rtd. Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye v. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni & Electoral Commission, Presidential Petition
No. 1 of 2001.
Presidential
Petition
No.
1
of
2017
43
|
P a g e