Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni will contest the country's January 2026 elections, aiming to retain the seat he first won nearly four decades ago.
While his re-election bid was expected, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) officially confirmed Museveni's participation in a statement issued on Monday by state broadcaster UBC.
In the video, NRM Electoral Body Chairperson Tanga Odoi announced that Museveni plans to formally signal his intention to run by collecting expression-of-interest forms for two roles: NRM chairperson and official party flagbearer.
"The president ... will pick up expression-of-interest forms for two positions, one for chairperson of the party and the other to contest if he is given the chance for presidential flag bearer," Odoi said.
Currently, the NRM, alongside other political parties, are in the process of screening and approving its candidates for the upcoming elections.
Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, has been widely criticised for consolidating power through constitutional amendments that removed presidential term and age limits, suppressing dissent and stifling the opposition.
In early June, for instance, Uganda's opposition leader, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, called out Museveni's government for allegedly conspiring to bar the National Unity Platform (NUP) youth from participating in the country's upcoming special interest group elections.
According to Kyagulanyi, government officials, including Electoral Commission staff, frustrated and blocked NUP youth candidates in 80 per cent of Uganda's over 140 districts.
"Our youth were blocked by Electoral Commission officials, Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), District Internal Security Officers (DISOs), and GISOs," he said then.
He also claimed that in some areas, some candidates were barred from submitting nomination papers through intimidation by hired goons.
The incident followed recent crackdowns on NUP youth meetings in Jinja and Mityana, developments that the opposition argues reflect a strategic campaign to stifle political competition ahead of the next general election.
