The Uganda’s Electoral Commission chairperson, Justice Simon Byabakama, has cleared President Yoweri Museveni to seek reelection in the 2026 polls.
Museveni, 81, arrived at the EC headquarters in Lweza, Entebbe Road at 10 am on Tuesday September 23, 2025, accompanied by the First Lady, Janet Museveni and was received by several senior government officials.
The president, who has been in power since 1986 is the first candidate to be nominated for the presidential race that has attracted several other aspirants, including National Unity Platform (NUP) principal, Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine.
After scrutinising his academic documents and nomination papers, Justice Byabakama said Museveni had fulfilled all the requirements of the nomination as stipulated in the Presidential Elections Act.
“I want to thank the NRM members for again trusting me with the chairmanship of the party and flagbearer in the 2026 General Election. Where we are moving to now, is to convince the people of Uganda about what we have achieved and what we are planning to do in the next term,” Museveni said after nomination.
He explained that Uganda’s GDP has doubled in the last five years. “I’m told in this term, Uganda’s GDP has doubled. In the last term, our GDP was $34 billion. It is now $66 billion. To double the GDP in just one term is no mean achievement,” the president added.
At the same time, the Ugandan President also decried the increasing level of corruption, crime and impunity in the country and pledged to deal with it in the next term.
“There’s peace in the country; there’s some crime, corruption and impunity. The NRM structure should come out and help expose criminals. If we work on corruption, criminality and impunity, it will help our people also enjoy the transformation that is happening. It will be a double mission in the coming term,” he said.
Other aspirants to be nominated on Tuesday are Mr Robert Kasibante of the National Peasants Party, and Mr Elton John Mabirizi of the Conservative Party.
NUP’s Robert Kyagulanyi and Mr Nathan Nandala Mafabi of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) will be nominated on September 24.
Who is Yoweri Museveni?
Born Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on September 15, 1944, in Ntungamo District, he ranks among the world’s longest-serving heads of state.
Museveni was raised in a cattle-keeping family of the Hima ethnic group. His father, Amos Kaguta, reportedly served in the King’s African Rifles during World War II, an experience said to have inspired the family name “Museveni”- derived from the Swahili for “seventh,” in reference to his father’s battalion.
He studied at Kyamate Primary School, Mbarara High School, and Ntare School before joining the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where he pursued Political Science and Economics.
