Zadock Amanyisa || Tayari News
KAMPALA – The National Resistance Movement(NRM) Presidential candidate, Mr. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who is the President of the Republic of Uganda, has been declared a duly elected President after winning Thursday’s presidential election, beating his leading challenger Mr. Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu aka Bobi Wine of the National Unity Platform(NUP).
The final election result was on Saturday 17th January announced by Justice Simon Byabakama Mugenyi, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, who said this was the sixth general election conducted under the 1995 Constitution.
President Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, beat his seven challengers, including Frank Buriira, Robert Kyagulanyi, Mubarak Munyagwa, Nandala Mafabi, Robert Kasibante, Joseph Mabirizi, and former Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Mugisha Muntu.
According to the results, President Museveni garnered 7,946,772 votes (71.65%), Kyagulanyi got 2,741,238 (24.7%), Nathan Mafabi got 29039(1.88%), Gregory Mugisha Muntu Oyera got 59276(0.59%), Mubarak Munyagwa got 31666(0.29%), Robert Kasibante got 33440(0.30%), Frank Bulira garnered 45159 (0.41%), while Joseph Mabirizi got 23458(0.21%).
On Saturday morning, Kyagulanyi’s son, Solomon Kampala, claimed his father had been put under house arrest and that security forces had surrounded their home in Magere. This followed other claims by NUP leaders and supporters that their leader had been abducted from his home.
The Police Spokesman, Kituuma Rusoke, however, told Tayari News that the force was providing security to a person of interest and heavy deployment around Magere was intended to keep him secure.
“The allegation was unfounded and untrue. Actually, Kyagulanyi posted on the internet that he had been abducted while he was seated in his sitting room at home. That’s how he has been behaving to attract attention,” said Kituuma.
In the 2021 election, Kyagulanyi, who was President Museveni’s main challenger, scored 35% of the vote against Museveni’s 58%.
The Byabakama-led Commission delivered on its promise of providing the results within 48hours after voting.
Today’s victory gives President Museveni, 81 the seventh term in office. He first took power as a rebel leader in 1986, while Kyagulanyi, a 43-year-old musician-turned politician, has tried his second attempt to lead Uganda. He has been accusing the NRM government of corruption and promised a comprehensive plan to “remove the dictator” and fight corruption through a protest vote.
Former Nigerian President, Mr Goodluck Jonathan, who is the African Union Head of Observation team, said the election was marred by internet shutdown and malfunctioning of the Biometric Voter Verification Kits across the country.
The Uganda Communications Commission said on Wednesday that “temporary suspension of public internet access and mobile services” was a measure to mitigate the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation, curb risks of electoral fraud and prevent incitement to violence.
Former Minister in the NRM Government, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere, said the NRM government has delivered on its promise of peace and economic transformation.
“We have worked hard to deliver on our promises to Ugandans, and that’s why they are still trusting us. Also, promising to protect what we have gained was a good campaign strategy. This has worked and given us more support,” he said
President Museveni will be sworn in as President of Uganda in May 2026.
NUP protests the results
According to the NUP treasurer, Mr Benjamin Katana, the manner in which the election has been conducted is a departure from what the Country prepared for in the sense that billions of taxpayers’ money was spent on procuring Biometric Voter Verification Kits to eliminate issues of multiple voting and ballot stuffing. Still, there was no value for money after the kits failed to work.
“The intended objective of transparency and that the electoral commission should deliver a free and fair election to the Ugandans has been greatly undermined. I think it goes a long way to undermine the integrity of this process, and consequently it undermines the ability of the election to deliver a free and fair election,” said Mr Katana