The High Court in Masaka has dismissed an election petition challenging the victory of Nameere Justine as Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament, despite finding that the court-ordered recount was conducted in breach of electoral law.

In a judgment delivered on October 21, 2026, Justice Bernard Namanya ruled that petitioner Nalubowa Rose had failed to prove that the irregularities in the recount substantially affected the election outcome.

The court ordered Nalubowa to pay the costs of the petition, leaving Nameere’s victory intact.

The dispute arose from the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election, in which Nalubowa was initially declared winner with 25,443 votes against Nameere’s 20,324.

However, following an application by Nameere for a recount over alleged omissions in the initial declaration, the Chief Magistrate ordered a recount that reversed the outcome.

The recount certificate declared Nameere the winner with 25,502 votes against Nalubowa’s 23,176, giving her a margin of 2,326 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, Nalubowa petitioned the High Court, challenging the legality of the recount and alleging irregularities, including compromised ballot boxes, missing ballot papers and the exclusion of results from nine polling stations.

She argued that the Electoral Commission had failed to safeguard election materials and that the recount was conducted under questionable circumstances, rendering the results unreliable.

However, Justice Namanya found that although the recount was conducted in non-compliance with electoral law, Nalubowa had not presented sufficient evidence to overturn the certified results.

The judge noted that the petitioner had failed to provide a polling-station-by-polling-station analysis demonstrating discrepancies between the initial declaration and the recount figures. She had also failed to produce evidence showing that she had formally requested and been denied the complete record of the recount proceedings.

The court further examined the exclusion of nine polling stations whose results had not been included in the recount outcome.

Although the stations had thousands of registered voters, the judge said evidence established that the actual number of votes cast at the excluded stations was 1,353.

Justice Namanya observed that even if all the excluded votes were added to Nalubowa’s tally of 23,176, her total would rise to 24,529, still leaving her 973 votes behind Nameere, who had 25,502.

“The petitioner has not established that the non-compliance affected the election result in a substantial manner,” the judge ruled.

The court consequently rejected Nalubowa’s request to nullify Nameere’s election and declare her the duly elected representative for Masaka City.

The judgment also addressed allegations that the recount was conducted beyond the statutory four-day period and without adequate supervision by the Chief Magistrate.

On timing, the court ruled that the law required the Chief Magistrate to appoint the time for the recount within four days of receiving the application, but did not require the entire exercise to be completed within that period.

The court also found that Nalubowa had failed to prove that the recount proceeded without judicial supervision, dismissing evidence from her witnesses on the matter as insufficiently credible.

Despite rejecting the petition, Justice Namanya emphasised that the recount had involved non-compliance with electoral law after the integrity of some electoral materials had been compromised.

The judge, however, held that the irregularities had not been shown to have substantially altered the final result, and therefore dismissed the petition with costs to be paid by Nalubowa.