MASAKA.
Loser in Masaka City Woman MP race Ms Rose Nalubowa of National Unity Platform (NUP) , has withdrawn an application seeking to review the decision made by the Chief magistrate Abert Asiimwe which resulted in a vote recount in where her opponent Justine Nameere was declared a winner.
To withdraw the application , Nalubowa first asked the judicial officer Simon Peter Kinobe allocated the file to excuse himself from the case ,insisting that he has ever participated in partisan politics ,also contested on the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) ticket in party primaries and doesn’t expect to get justice.
Justice Kibobe accepted the withdraw of the application and asked both parties to pay for their costs.
After the ruling, Nameere told Journalists that Nalubowa’s decision is a waste of time and a manifestation that she is fighting a losing battle .
Last week , Nalubowa first withdrew an application seeking to stop gazettement of Ms Nameere following the latter’s gazettement ,saying the matter had been overtaken by events .
On February 1 , Masaka Chief Magistrate Mr Abert Asiimwe declared Ms Nameere ,the winner of the Masaka City Woman MP seat after a tense three-day recount exercise, overturning the Electoral Commission’s earlier declaration of Nalubowa as the duly elected MP.
According to results from the recount, Nameere scored 25,502 votes against Nalubowa’s 23,176 votes .However, on January 16, 2026, the Masaka City returning officer Ahmed Nadduli Musisi had earlier declared Nalubowa the winning candidate, having obtained 25,443 votes compared to 20,324 votes for Ms Nameere , 6,343 votes for Juliet Nakabuye of Democratic Front(DF ) and Sauyah Nanyonga(Ind) got 6,196 votes . However, the decision has since drawn scrutiny from legal observers, who argue that the clear statutory provisions and binding guidance laid down by the High Court more than two decades ago. The judicial officer (Asiimwe) had, in two earlier similar applications, refused to preside over the vote recount, citing broken seals on ballot boxes.