Uganda's NRM endorses Museveni as candidate for 2026 presidential election

Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement has endorsed President Yoweri Museveni as its candidate for next year’s general election – and his seventh term as leader of the East African nation.  

Eighty-year-old Museveni accepted the nomination on Wednesday in a speech to the party’s delegate conference in Kampala, and thanked the party for putting its trust in him once again.  

Museveni first took power in 1986 as head of a rebel force. He has since been elected six times, after securing constitutional amendments to remove presidential term limits and an age cap.  

Should he win in January, it would bring him close to five decades in power in the East African nation. Waving a NRM pamphlet, Museveni used the occasion to tout his party's achievements:

“What is in this booklet is what the NRM has achieved, when we came in, we knew exactly what to do and that’s why the economy of Uganda has recovered. And as I speak today, we have gone through five phases.” 

Critics have warned that Museveni has veered into authoritarianism with virtually no opposition, including within the NRM. 

Museveni says criticism of his long stay in power is unjustified because he is reelected every five years. Notably, he has a large following in rural areas, where Ugandans cite relative peace and security among reasons to keep him in power.

Opposition

Museveni's main opponent in the last election was the singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, who has also declared his candidacy in the polls set for January. 

Wine, 43, lost the 2021 election to Museveni by 35 to 58 percent in a vote marred by violence and allegations of vote rigging.

Last month, Wine said the political climate in Uganda has “gone from bad to worse” ahead of the election, citing threats to himself and other activists mobilising against the longtime president. He said the threats he faces as Museveni's main opponent “come in no unclear terms.”

Wine often describes himself as a “ghetto president,” citing his early days in a poor neighborhood in Kampala. He has maintained a high profile in this East African nation since the early 2000s, when he rose to fame as a singer whose dancehall music captivated audiences. Wine’s compositions later grew critical of the government, earning him a reputation as a prominent contrarian while his musical peers were sometimes seen to be supportive of the government.

His election to a parliamentary seat in 2017 marked his formal entry into national politics.

Wine has said that he is mobilizing his supporters to show up in what he calls a “protest vote” against everything he believes is wrong with the government. But his attempts to hold rallies across the country are often thwarted by security forces who cite a need to protect public order.

One of Museveni's other long-time opponents, Kizza Besigye, has been jailed since November over treason charges his supporters say are politically motivated.