2026 Ugandan general election

2026 Ugandan general election
15 January 2026
Presidential election
Registered21,649,067
Turnout52.50% ( 6.85 pp)
 
Candidate Yoweri Museveni Bobi Wine
Party NRM NUP
Popular vote 7,946,772 2,741,238
Percentage 71.65% 24.72%
President before election

Yoweri Museveni
NRM

Elected President

Yoweri Museveni
NRM

Parliamentary election
All 529 seats in Parliament
265 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Seats +/–
NRM Yoweri Museveni 359 +23
NUP Bobi Wine 48 −9
FDC Patrick Oboi Amuriat 10 −22
UPC Jimmy Micheal Akena 10 +1
DP Norbert Mao 6 −3
PFF 2 New
ANT Mugisha Muntu 1 +1
Independents – 63 −11
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Speaker of Parliament before Speaker of Parliament after
Anita Among
NRM		 TBD
TBD

General elections were held in Uganda on 15 January 2026 to elect the President and the Parliament.[1][2]

The elections were violent and disputed, with the US senate calling it a 'hollow exercise'[3] and Human Rights Watch stating they 'were marred by human rights abuses'.[4] The Ugandan government locked up thousands of opposition supporters,[5] shut down the internet [6][7][8] and raided the house of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine.[9][10] The Electoral Commission refused to comment on videos alleging widespread ballot box stuffing. [11]

Incumbent president Yoweri Museveni was announced as the winner of the presidential election with 71.65% of the vote, although no tally was published further amplifying concerns of fraud.[12]

Electoral system

Officially, the president of Uganda is elected using the two-round system, with candidates needing to receive at least 50% + 1 of the vote to be elected in the first round. However, a second round has never taken place since Museveni installed himself as President in 1986. The control of Museveni over the electoral process and the electoral commission make it unlikely that anyone but him or his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba can become President.[13] Muhoozi publicly stated that no civilian can become President and even threatened to behead opposition leader Bobi Wine[14].

Like many African leaders it has been Museveni's ambition to be a leader for life[15]. Term limits, preventing him to run again in 2006, were abolished in 2005.[16] The age limit of 75 years, preventing Museveni to run again in 2021, was removed in 2017[17]. Muhoozi was appointed Chief of Defense Forces and is being groomed as his heir to succeed Museveni after his death, although he is widely seen as impulsive.[18]

The elections are supervised by the Electoral Commission of Uganda, who are directly appointed by the President, against recommendations by the European Union that question the Commission's independence.[19][20]

The Parliament of Uganda has a total of 529 seats, including 353 representatives elected using first-past-the-post voting in single winner constituencies. Using the same method, 146 seats reserved for women are filled, with one seat per district. Finally, 30 seats are indirectly filled via special electoral colleges: 10 by the army, 5 by youths, 5 by elders, 5 by unions, and 5 by people with disabilities. In each of these groups, at least one woman must be elected (at least two for the army group).[21][22][23]

Candidates

In June 2025 incumbent president Yoweri Museveni, who has been in office since 1986, announced his candidacy for another (seventh) presidential term.[24] He was formally declared the candidate of his party, the National Resistance Movement the following month[25] and was recognised by the election commission on 23 September 2025.[26]

On 18 August 2025 the National Unity Platform (NUP) and the Democratic Party (DP) applied to register candidates for the presidential election.[27] On 24 September, the Electoral Commission nominated Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu a.k.a Bobi Wine to run for president.[28]

Kyagulanyi also contested in the 2021 general election and came out second. He denied the results of the election, citing irregularities such as vote rigging and went on to file a presidential election petition in the Supreme Court but later withdrew it.[29][30]

Four women, including Yvonne Mpambara, gained enough signatures to be considered as potential candidates. None of them were ultimately nominated by the Electoral Commission.[31] Other candidates nominated by the Electoral Commission to contest for Presidency include;

Campaign

The months before the start of the campaign saw a number of government actions against the opposition National Unity Platform. In October 2025, ten NUP members were arrested in northern Uganda, with at least another 95 members charged with minor offences in November 2025.[48] Government actions against the NUP have continued since the start of the campaign. On 6 December 2025, Bobi Wine and several supporters and staff were attacked and beaten by security forces while campaigning in Gulu.[49]

Amnesty International said the election campaign was marred by "a brutal campaign of repression" against the opposition, citing the use of tear gas, pepper spray, beatings and other acts of violence. In a New Year's Eve address on 31 December 2025, president Museveni recommended that the security forces use more tear gas to break up crowds of what he called "the criminal opposition" and defended the dispersal of Bobi Wine supporters with tear gas, saying that "it doesn't kill. It is much better than using live bullets".[6]

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights accused the Ugandan government of waging lawfare, including military regulations, to restrict activities by opposition politicians and supporters ahead of the election.[50] Simon Mugenyi Byabakama, chair of the Uganda Electoral Commission, acknowledged receiving warnings from senior government figures whom he did not identify not to declare certain candidates as winners.[51] On 13 January 2026, the Uganda Communications Commission imposed a suspension of mobile internet services, citing misinformation, electoral fraud and incitement of violence.[52] Bobi Wine accused the government of using the internet blackout to carry out ballot-stuffing and arrests of his party officials.[53]

Conduct

On election day, polling was delayed by up to four hours in several constituencies, with the electoral commission blaming "technical glitches" that included failures of biometric identification kits and a lack of equipment.[54] The commission advised polling officers to use paper registration records to prevent voters from being disenfranchised.[55] Voting, which was supposed to end at 16:00 EAT, was extended by one hour.[56] After polling closed, human rights activist Agather Atuhaire said security forces shot dead at least ten opposition supporters who had gathered at the residence of MP Muwanga Kivumbi in Butambala District to follow the release of results. Police said they had opened fire after opposition "goons" organised by Kivumbi attacked a police station with machetes, axes and boxes of matches.[57]

Results

Main article: 2026 Ugandan protests

Initial results released on 16 January showed Yoweri Museveni leading the presidential count with 76.25% of the vote, followed by Bobi Wine with 19.85%.[57] That same day, Bobi Wine was placed under house arrest.[58] Wine's supporters protested the results with at least seven protesters killed overnight from January 15 to 16.[59] On 16 January, security forces raided Wine's residence, resulting in Wine fleeing to an undisclosed location.[60] Wine insisted that the official results were "fake", adding that his wife and other relatives remained under house arrest.[61] On 19 January, military commander Muhoozi Kainerugaba issued a 48-hour ultimatum for Wine's surrender.[62]

Electoral Commission chair Justice Simon Byabakama declared that Museveni had been re-elected as president on 17 January, stating that he won 71.65% of votes.[63] Bobi Wine came in second place with 24.72% of the vote.[64] Wine rejected the election outcome alleging widespread fraud, while Munyagwa Mubarak Sserunga planned to challenge the results in court over failures of biometric voter verification kits in opposition strongholds.[65]

Candidates from the other main opposition parties trailed far behind, with FDC candidate Nandala Mafabi receiving 1.88% of the vote, while ANT candidate Mugisha Muntu received 0.53% of the vote. Smaller candidates were also similarly behind, with Frank Bulira Kabinga receiving 0.41%, followed by Robert Kasibante with 0.30%, Mubarak Sserunga with 0.29%, and Elton Joseph Mabirizi with 0.21%.[65] Turnout in the election was 52.5%.[66] Following his victory, Museveni referred to Bobi Wine and members of the opposition as "traitors" and "terrorists" and accused them of trying to foment violence during the election.[67] On 22 January, Muwanga Kivumbi was arrested.[68]

Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who represented a group of election monitors from the African Union and other regional bodies, said the election had been held peacefully and found no evidence of ballot stuffing, but added that "reports of intimidation, arrest and abductions" against the opposition and civil society "instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process", while the internet shutdown disrupted "effective observation" of the vote and "increased suspicion".[69]

The US Senate called the election "a hollow exercise, staged to legitimize President Yoweri Museveni’s seventh term and four decades in power"[70].

President

CandidatePartyVotes%
Yoweri MuseveniNational Resistance Movement7,946,77271.65
Bobi WineNational Unity Platform2,741,23824.72
Nandala MafabiForum for Democratic Change209,0391.88
Mugisha MuntuAlliance for National Transformation59,2760.53
Frank Bulira KabingaRevolutionary People's Party45,9590.41
Robert KasibanteNational Peasants Party33,4400.30
Munyagwa Mubarak SserungaCommon Man's Party31,6660.29
Elton Joseph MabiriziConservative Party23,4580.21
Total11,090,848100.00
Valid votes11,090,84897.58
Invalid/blank votes275,3532.42
Total votes11,366,201100.00
Registered voters/turnout21,649,06752.50
Source: Daily Monitor

Parliament

Main article: List of members of the twelfth Parliament of Uganda

Many prominent MPs were unseated including Mathias Mpuuga, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Abed Bwanika and Asuman Basalirwa.[71]

PartySeats
National Resistance Movement359
National Unity Platform48
Uganda People's Congress10
Forum for Democratic Change10
Democratic Party (Uganda)6
People’s Front for Freedom2
Alliance for National Transformation1
Independent63
Total499
Source: [1][2]

See also

References

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