155 Election Petitons Set For Hearing by 32 Judges Come Monday.

Hearings for the Parliamentary Election Petitions will start on August 16 whereby parties in the matters will be notified through hearing notices when to appear at various courts.

This decision follows an issuance of revised contingency measures and guidelines to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 during the hearing of election petitions by the Chief Justice, Alfonse Chigamony Owiny-Dollo recently.

In this regard, only parties to the petitions, advocates, and witnesses specifically summoned shall attend court and there must be observance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set by the Ministry of Health by all parties attending court.

“The petitions shall be cause-listed for specific times, one after the other to avoid crowds at Courts and the sitting positions in Court halls shall be conspicuously demarcated to observe social distance,” Owiny-Dollo guided.

Also, where the parties and the advocates in a single election petition exceed 10 in number, the trial Judge shall use Audio-Visual facilities where it exists or use open space where possible.

The Public Relations Officer at the Judiciary, Jamson Karemani said that the Principal Judge, Dr. Flavian Zeija has assigned 32 Judges to advance handling of 155 Parliamentary and Local Council Election Petitions across different High Court Circuits countrywide.

“Mbale High Court Circuit will have the highest number of Judges, six, to handle 31 election petitions. Jinja Circuit and Civil Division follow with each having four Judges,” Karemani said.

As revealed by Karemani, only one Judge has been deployed to handle election petitions at each of the High Courts of Arua, Gulu, Kabale, Lira, Mpigi, Mukono and Mbarara.