MASAKA, Uganda — The High Court in Masaka has dismissed a petition challenging Justine Nameere’s election as Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament, bringing another chapter of the disputed 2026 election to a close.
Justice Bernard Namanya delivered the ruling on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, in Election Petition No. 5 of 2026, filed by National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Rose Nalubowa against Nameere and other respondents. The ruling was delivered by email, according to a judgment notice issued by the court.
The dispute dates back to the January 15, 2026, parliamentary election. The Electoral Commission initially declared Nalubowa the winner with 25,443 votes, while Nameere received 20,324 votes, giving Nalubowa a lead of 5,119 votes.
Nameere challenged the result and sought a recount. Masaka Chief Magistrate Albert Asiimwe subsequently supervised a recount that overturned the initial result.
The recount gave Nameere 25,502 votes against Nalubowa’s 23,176. Democratic Front candidate Juliet Nakakande received 6,136 votes, while independent candidate Sauya Nanyonga polled 5,921 votes. Nameere was subsequently declared the winner and gazetted.
Nalubowa then returned to court, challenging the recount and Nameere’s subsequent declaration. She argued that the exercise was affected by serious irregularities, including compromised ballot boxes, missing or broken seals, the exclusion of results from nine polling stations and the use of photocopied declaration forms.
She asked the High Court to set aside the recount results, cancel Nameere’s election and declare her the duly elected Woman MP for Masaka City.
In his ruling, however, Justice Namanya found that there had been non compliance with electoral requirements during the recount after the integrity of some electoral materials had been compromised. The court did not simply dismiss the concerns as nonexistent.
The key question was whether those irregularities substantially affected the final result.
The court considered the nine polling stations that had been excluded from the recount. They had 3,886 registered voters, but only 1,353 votes had actually been cast there.
Justice Namanya held that even if all the 1,353 votes were added to Nalubowa’s recount tally of 23,176, her total would rise to 24,529 votes. That would still leave Nameere ahead with 25,502 votes, a difference of 973 votes.
On that basis, the court found that the irregularities had not been shown to have substantially affected the outcome of the election.
The petition was therefore dismissed, with costs awarded against Nalubowa.
The ruling leaves Nameere as the elected Masaka City Woman MP following a contest that moved from the original Electoral Commission declaration, through a controversial recount, and finally to the High Court.
The case had attracted significant attention because the recount reversed an initial victory by Nalubowa and produced a new result in which Nameere won by 2,326 votes. The High Court has now upheld the result arising from that recount, despite finding shortcomings in the process.
For Masaka voters, the latest ruling settles the dispute at the High Court level. It also illustrates the distinction courts make between identifying an electoral irregularity and proving that the irregularity materially changed the result.
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