The High Court in Masaka has upheld the election of State Minister for Local Government Justine Nameere as Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament, dismissing a petition filed by National Unity Platform candidate Rose Nalubowa.Justice Bernard Namanya, in a judgment delivered on 21 October 2026, ruled that although the court-ordered recount that overturned Nalubowa’s initial victory involved irregularities and compromised electoral materials, the petitioner failed to prove that those flaws substantially affected the final outcome.In the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election, the Electoral Commission initially declared Nalubowa the winner with 25,443 votes against Nameere’s 20,324. Nameere sought a recount, which was conducted under the direction of the Masaka Chief Magistrate and reversed the result, giving Nameere 25,502 votes to Nalubowa’s 23,176 — a margin of 2,326 votes.Justice Namanya found that the Electoral Commission failed to properly safeguard electoral materials and that the recount proceeded despite compromised ballot boxes. He also examined nine excluded polling stations. Even if all 1,353 votes from those stations were added to Nalubowa’s tally, she would still have trailed Nameere by 973 votes.“Although she established that the recount proceedings were not fully compliant with the electoral law, she did not prove that the result certified after the recount failed to reflect the democratic choice of the electorate,” the judge ruled. He ordered Nalubowa to pay the costs of the petition.Nalubowa, addressing journalists in Masaka alongside her lawyers, said the judge’s recognition of procedural flaws gives her firm ground to challenge the decision in the Court of Appeal. She has instructed her legal team to file the appeal.Nameere celebrated the ruling, describing it as a victory delivered by God after what she called a sustained campaign against her since the NRM primaries.