President Yoweri Museveni will once again seek to extend his 39-year rule, after Uganda’s electoral commission on Tuesday confirmed his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election. The January vote sets the stage for a fresh showdown with his chief rival, pop-star-turned-politician Bobi Wine.
Officials announced Museveni’s nomination at a ceremony near Kampala, after his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) submitted more than two million endorsements. Addressing cheering supporters, the 79-year-old leader said his campaign would highlight both past achievements and new plans to attract foreign investors.
Museveni has ruled Uganda since seizing power in 1986. A 2017 constitutional amendment scrapped the presidential age limit, removing the last legal obstacle to his continued stay in power. Backed by the NRM’s parliamentary majority, he has since secured multiple terms.
Opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, widely known as Bobi Wine, is expected to be nominated later this week. Wine won 35% of the vote in 2021, against Museveni’s 58%—the president’s narrowest margin in decades—while alleging ballot stuffing and other irregularities, claims the electoral body rejected.
Uganda, where more than 75% of citizens are under 35, has become a political battleground between Museveni’s entrenched establishment and Wine’s youth-driven movement. The opposition’s National Unity Platform (NUP) now holds the largest number of opposition seats in parliament, underscoring the rising influence of young voters.
The 2026 election is expected to mirror the intensity of the last contest, with Museveni branding Wine a foreign-backed disruptor, while Wine positions himself as the voice of Uganda’s frustrated youth. With political temperatures rising, observers say the upcoming poll will be pivotal in shaping the country’s political and economic trajectory.
