The National Unity Platform (NUP) has strongly challenged the ongoing vote recount in the Masaka City Woman Member of Parliament race, accusing the process of fraud and manipulation aimed at favouring NRM’s Justin Nameere over NUP’s Rose Nalubowa.
In a statement released as the recount continues, NUP said fresh evidence has emerged indicating that several ballot boxes were tampered with and stuffed with pre-ticked ballot papers in favour of Nameere, despite official Declaration of Results (DR) forms showing Nalubowa as the winner at the affected polling stations.
“As the illegal vote recount goes on in Masaka, a ballot box has been found with all ballot papers pre-ticked in favour of Nameere (NRM), yet the DR form clearly shows that the NUP candidate, Rose Nalubowa, won at that polling station,” NUP said.
The party further revealed that another ballot box was found completely empty, although results from that polling station had already been officially declared and recorded.
According to NUP, these discoveries demonstrate that the integrity of the recount has been irreparably compromised.
“That Magistrate should at this point stop the sham exercise. This is more than enough evidence that the ballot boxes were tampered with,” the party stated.
NUP alleges that some ballot boxes were broken from the lower side and later stuffed with pre-ticked ballot papers favouring Nameere, describing the acts as a coordinated effort by what it termed “regime operatives” to overturn the will of the voters.
The party also pointed to what it described as a suspicious pattern in the recount results.
“As of now, results for all other candidates largely reflect what was initially announced. It is only Nameere whose votes are inexplicably increasing. Where she initially had 20 votes, an additional 120 ballot papers are now being discovered,” NUP said.
NUP has called on Masaka Chief Magistrate Albert Asiimwe to immediately halt the recount, warning that allowing the process to continue risks undermining public confidence in the judiciary and the electoral system.
“The magistrate must save his dignity and cancel the recount. The people of Masaka must reject attempts to impose a leader through fraud,” the statement added.
The recount follows a court petition filed by NRM’s Justin Nameere, challenging the election of Rose Nalubowa, who was initially declared winner of the January 15 polls.
Nalubowa garnered 25,443 votes, defeating Nameere who received 20,324 votes.
Nalubowa and her legal team earlier withdrew from the recount process, citing multiple irregularities including unsealed ballot boxes and boxes found empty.
As of publication, the court-ordered recount is still ongoing, with final results yet to be announced.
