The Chief Magistrate’s Court in Tororo District has dismissed an application filed by Ms Sarah Opendi, contesting the outcome of the January 15, 2026, polls for the District Woman Member of Parliament race in which she lost.
Ms Opendi, who was the National Resistance Movement (NRM) flag bearer in the race, ran to the court seeking orders to recount the ballots, citing irregularities such as ballot stuffing and falsification of numerical figures marked in her favour at 11 polling stations.
The Electoral Commission on January 16, 2026, declared Ms Angella Akoth [Independent] the winner of the race after she polled 78,542 votes, beating Ms Opendi with a margin of only 35 votes.
On January 23, the chief magistrate’s court, presided over by Chief Magistrate Irene Nantebya, granted the application for a vote recount and subsequently ordered the electoral commission to produce ballot boxes from the alleged polling stations before the court to have the recount conducted on January 24.
Following the court order on January 24, all the ballot boxes were transported from the Electoral Commission to the court premises under tight security.
However, upon the court’s inspection, it was discovered that two ballot boxes had broken seals hence raising suspicion that they may have been tampered with.
The dispute over the conditions of the ballot boxes became a main legal challenge to Ms. Opendi and the court. After hearing submissions from either side, the magistrate deferred his ruling to today (January 27).
In her ruling, Ms Nantebya dismissed the application on the grounds that some of the ballot boxes presented before the court had been tampered with which compromised the integrity of the recount and subsequently upheld Ms Akoth’s win as the duly elected Tororo District Woman MP.
“This court has no jurisdiction to go ahead to conduct a vote recount when electoral materials have been tampered with, and if I do so, I would have compromised the integrity of the court. Therefore, I rule that the petition has been dismissed and order that the Electoral Commission uphold the victory of Akoth,” the Chief Magistrate said.
She also ordered the return of the presented election materials to the electoral commission for further safety and management.
Addressing journalists after the court ruling, Ms Opendi said she was satisfied with the court ruling and said she was still going to seek guidance from her lawyers.
“I don’t think this was what I had come for. However, I am going to seek guidance from my lawyers before I can pronounce my next course of action,” she said.
She said the outcome of the court didn’t only affect her as an individual but the entire people of Tororo District who voted for her.
Ms Opendi said she had all the grounds and evidence to take another course of action.
Ms Akoth lauded the magistrate’s ruling for ‘maintaining the people’s will,’ before promising to lobby for her constituents once she’s sworn in.