MASAKA — The election dispute between State Minister for Local Government Justine Nameere and National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Rose Nalubowa returned to court on Monday as Masaka High Court began handling preliminary matters in the petition challenging Nameere’s victory.
At the sitting before Justice Bernard Namanya, Nalubowa’s lawyer, Alexander Lule, told court that the respondents had been served with the evidence the petitioner intends to rely on.
Nameere’s lead lawyer, Anthony Bazira, asked court to allow the respondents to file a rejoinder to the evidence.
The petition, registered as Election Petition No. 05 of 2026, stems from a recount that overturned the Electoral Commission’s initial declaration of Nalubowa as winner of the Masaka City Woman MP race.
The Electoral Commission had initially declared Nalubowa the winner of the January 15 election with 25,443 votes, while Nameere polled 20,324.
Nameere challenged the result, leading to a recount supervised by Masaka Chief Magistrate Albert Asiimwe. The recount, completed in early February, gave Nameere 25,502 votes against Nalubowa’s 23,176.
Nalubowa has since asked court to set aside Nameere’s election, arguing that the recount was affected by irregularities and did not represent the choice of voters.
Nameere, however, wants the petition dismissed with costs, describing it as incompetent and defective and arguing that it does not disclose a cause of action.
The Electoral Commission and the Masaka City Returning Officer are also respondents in the case.
Monday’s proceedings did not go into the substance of the allegations. The court dealt mainly with the exchange of evidence and the respondents’ request for time to respond.
The case is part of a wider batch of election petitions being handled by the Judiciary following the January 2026 general elections, with hearings expected to continue in the coming weeks.
