Ajuri MP poll: Fully signed declaration forms show UPC’s Jalameso whipped Obua

Uganda conducted its first phase of general elections on January 15, 2026, with more than 9 million Ugandans voting for President and Members of Parliament to the 12th Parliament.

The electoral process, however, witnessed the country going into internet, social media and mobile money shutdowns. This action by the government caused a lot of concerns among the citizens, many of whom questioned the credibility, fairness and transparency of the polls in “darkness.”

However, amid the shutdown, many incumbents were sent home leaving the way for new faces to take the five-year mantle.

In the Lango sub-region for example, the “true meaning of whipping” manifested in Alebtong district’s Ajuri.

The Ajuri County MP seat had five contestants including Government Chief Whip, Denis Hanson Obua (NRM), Fred Jalameso (UPC), Molo Tom Jasper, Omara Steven, and Ongom Emmanuel Okwel.

This race, however, was between two candidates: Obua and Jalameso. While Lango had already known who was re-elected and lost the elections by January 17 before the President-elect was declared at 4 pm, Ajuri County was under spotlight, contention and confusion (SCC).

The SCC arose when the Returning Officer for Alebtong electoral district Adongo Jessica Ocen released the election results for MP-elect for Moroto County and Woman Member of Parliament, but delayed to release election results for MP-elect, Ajuri County.

Signed results for declaration forms for 160 polling stations out of 178 as of January 17 showed Jalameso scored 14,331 votes (44.50%) whipping Obua. The incumbent was trailing with 12,963 votes (40.25%).

The difference is 1,368 votes.

Others in the race were Molo Tom Jasper who secured 1,558 votes (4.48%), Omara Steven 507 votes (1.57%) and Ongom Emmanuel Okwel 2,848 votes (8.84%).

Meanwhile, provisional EC results in the declaration forms from the contested 18 polling stations in Awei sub-county showed that the UPC candidate would still be ahead of NRM’s Obua had the final declaration been made.

In the entire Awei, Jalameso obtained 555 votes against Obua’s 1,432.

If all votes were tallied for the final declaration, Jalameso would become an MP-elect with 14,886 votes. Obua would trail with 14,395 votes.

A total of 491 votes would have made a difference in the Ajuri County race.

No declaration – “vehement objection” 

With the Electoral Commission unable to release full and credible results from all 178 polling stations stemming from strong concerns by Jalameso and his supporters that the “fake results from Awei polling stations” were being read for tallying, the Commission halted the process and ordered a rerun on January 27.

The rerun, according to the Commission, will only be held in Awei sub-county. This schedule was on that day, and on January 20, was vehemently rejected by the UPC candidate.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at Uganda House in Kampala, Jalameso confirmed that as of January 17, 2026, he had scored 14,331 votes (44.50%) against his closest rival Obua who had 12,963 votes(40.25 %) from 160 out of the 178 polling stations.

He further cited that results from 18 polling stations were not tallied because they were “not coherent.”

“The results that were read by the returning Officer Adongo Jessica Ocen were not tallied, not coherent with the official declaration forms that were issued to my agents and to the agents of the other three candidates,” he said.

He gave an example of irregularities in Te- Ongora polling station in Owalo parish, Awei where the incumbent Obua had got 67 votes.

“Obua got 67 votes then they inserted a prefix 4 to make 467 votes yet the total number of voters on that day who turned up for the woman MP was 231. So this inconsistency and irregularity made us raise an objection and therefore it was not included in the tally,” he added.

Jalameso further made it clear that the Parliamentary Elections Act has no provision that requires a re-election in the 18 polling stations, describing the aspect as incompetence of the district returning Officer of Alebtong who tampered with the declaration forms while the incumbent hid his declaration forms.