MUSEVENI TO SEEK REELECTION FOR SEVENTH TERM

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni will seek re-election for  seventh term in polls due early next year to extend his nearly four-decade rule. This is according to a senior official from the ruling party. Museveni was widely expected to run again but this is the first confirmation from his National Resistance Movement(NRM) party. The country will hold general elections in January 2026, in which voters will choose both the president and lawmakers. Yoweri Museveni has held power in Uganda since 1986. He is the fourth longest ruling leader in Africa after Teodoro Obiang from Equatorial Guinea, Paul Biya from Cameroon, and Denis Sassou Nguesso from the Congo Republic.

 Under his tenure, the NRM has changed the 1995 constitution twice to allow him to extend his rule. The 2005 amendment removed presidential terms limit and in 2017, the Ugandan Parliament voted to withdraw age eligibility requirements. According to Tanga Odoi, the chairman of the NRM’s electory body, Museveni is expected to formalize his bid for his party’s nomination on Saturday. NRM and other political parties are at present vetting and clearing their candidate for the pools.

 At a press conference, Odoi stated that the president will collect expression of interest forms for two roles: one as chairperson of the party and the other should be granted an opportunity to run as the party’s presidential flag bearer. In the upcoming 2026 elections, Museveni’s main opponent is expected to be Bobi Wine, the musician turned politician who finished second in the 2021 vote but alleged the results were rigged. Wine whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi has already announced plans to vie again next year.