Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni to seek re-election

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni will seek re-election for a seventh term in polls due early next year, 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, 80, has held power in Uganda since 1986. He is the fourth longest-ruling leader in Africa after Teodoro Obiang from Equatorial Guinea (46 years), Paul Biya from Cameroon (43 years) and Denis Sassou-Nguesso from the Congo Republic (41 years). 

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.  

Museveni is expected to formalise his bid for his party's nomination on Saturday, according to Tanga Odoi, the chairman of the NRM's electory body.

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 in a press conference.

Museveni’s biggest opponent in the 2026 polls should be Bobi Wine. The singer-turned-politician came second in the 2021 elections but claimed the results were fraudulent.

Wine has already said he intends to run again next year.

Museveni has shrugged off recurring accusations from human rights groups and opposition leaders that he has maintained his grip on power through patronage and intimidation.

He claims his long rule is due to lasting popular support.