The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has scored a major victory as Jalameso Fred defeated long-serving National Resistance Movement (NRM) politician Denis Hamson Obua in the Ajuri County parliamentary race.

Obua, the current Government Chief Whip, has represented Ajuri County since its creation in 2011 and first joined Parliament in 2006 as the representative for the Northern Uganda Youth constituency.

The decisive win came after the Electoral Commission held a repeat election in polling stations where results from the January 15 general elections were disputed. According to official figures, Jalameso Fred received 16,336 votes, narrowly surpassing Obua, who got 15,568 votes.

The results included votes from 160 polling stations during the original election and 18 polling stations in the re-run conducted on Tuesday in Awei and Abako sub-counties. Returning Officer Michael Olobo officially declared Jalameso the winner of the Ajuri County seat.

Other candidates in the race were Emmanuel Ongom Okwel of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), who polled 2,874 votes, and independent candidates Tom Jasper Molo and Steven Omara, who garnered 1,585 and 519 votes respectively.

UPC party president Jimmy James Michael Akena described the victory as a reflection of "people's power", congratulating voters in Ajuri for standing firm despite political pressures.

Earlier, Akena told journalists he had deliberately evaded security plans to arrest him, claiming the move was intended to facilitate vote rigging.

The repeat election was organized after the Electoral Commission identified irregularities in the Awei Sub-county polling stations, where results announced at the stations did not match figures sent to the district tally centre. To ensure transparency, the Commission nullified results from these areas and conducted fresh voting under heavy security, with police and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) personnel manning roadblocks from Corner 4 Trading Centre in Agali Sub-county, Lira District, to key access points into Alebtong District.

Jalameso Fred’s victory marks a significant shift in Ajuri County politics.