The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Tribunal has today dismissed the election petition challenging the victory of Ms. Annet Nabirye as the party flagbearer for the Luuka District Woman Member of Parliament seat.
The ruling was delivered by a three-member panel headed by Mr. Nelson Kamuhanda.
The petition arises from the NRM primary elections held on 17th July, 2025 for the area Woman Member of Parliament where the petitioner Hon. Esther Mbayo who obtained 8,111 votes being dissatisfied with the results challenged the declaration of Hon. Nabirye who got 38,186 votes as the winner, citing irregularities in the electoral process.
Hon. Mbayo prayed that the declaration of Hon. Nabirye be nullified and she be declared the flagbearer instead.
However, during the hearing, Hon. Mbayo failed to satisfy the Tribunal with evidence that would in essence impact the massive votes garnered by Hon. Nabirye.
“From the qualitative test, no electoral offence was proved to have been committed by the respondent/agent of the respondent in the course of the election,” the Tribunal noted.
In the same hearing, Hon. Mbayo who has represented Luuka for a decade claimed that the district has 603 villages translating to 603 polling stations yet the tally sheet results for Luuka District Woman Member of Parliament submitted before the Tribunal showed 274 polling stations.
“This is an indication that the allegations of the petitioner are tainted with falsehoods and misconceived to what is actually on ground in the area she was contesting in as a Woman Member of Parliament,”the Tribunal stated.
“The Tribunal finds no sufficient basis to nullify the election of the 1st respondent [Nabirye] and declare the petitioner as the rightful elected flagbearer.”
The Tribunal therefore ruled that the petition, “Is hereby dismissed”.
“The declaration of Ms. Nabirye Annet as the duly elected NRM flag bearer for Luuka District Woman Member of Parliament is upheld.”
On the polling day of 17th July, 2025, Ms. Nabirye was declared the NRM flagbearer for the Parliamentary seat by Mr. Kikuli Nelson, the Luuka NRM District Elections Officer, after garnering 33,714 votes, representing 63.29% while her closest rival Hon Mbayo got 8,111 which is 14.7 %.
Others who also contested and lost include Namutamba Resty Kawowo who managed to get 5,308 votes and Kabule Evelyne Naume Mpagi who trailed with 3,753 votes.
However, according to the official results from the NRM Electoral Commission and confirmed by the Tribunal, Ms. Nabirye got 38,186 votes, as opposed to the 33,714 votes [5,000 less votes] declared by Mr. Kikuli.
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