Electoral Commission-EC has asked High Court to dismiss an application filed by Joseph Kabuleta seeking to block digital elections. Last month, EC released a revised roadmap for the 2021 general elections in which, it introduced virtual campaigns as opposed to mass political rallies.
The EC Chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, said the decision was meant to stop the spread of Covid-19. This prompted Kabuleta, who has declared his intentions to contest for the presidency to write to the Commission giving them two days to conduct a meeting with key stakeholders like political parties regarding the most appropriate ways of conducting elections during the pandemic.
However, the Commission didn’t heed to his request. As a result, Kabuleta petitioned the court to quash the revised roadmap. Kabuleta argued that EC is trying to prevent the public from participating in free and fair elections by unjustifiably restricting freedom of speech and imposing unconstitutional limitations on the public.
EC lawyers led by Ntambirweki Kandeebe told Justice Esta Nambayo that the application was wrongly filed before High Court. They argued that the applicant didn’t exhaust the existing remedies provided for under the law.
They presented an affidavit sworn by the Electoral Commission Secretary, Sam Rwakoojo who contends that Kabuleta should have first gone to their seven-member committee, raised his grievances, and only run to court after failing to get justice.
According to Rwakoojo, the Commission is mindful of the health of all citizens amidst the prevailing pandemic and as such, they made consultations and got expert guidance from the Health Ministry to conduct virtual campaigns so as to stop the spread of Covid-19