Turnout: 52.50%
About this election
Uganda held general elections on 15 January 2026, choosing both the president and parliament. President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, was declared re-elected with 71.65% of the vote, against 24.72% for the opposition leader Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi). Smaller candidates, including Nandala Mafabi and Mugisha Muntu, took the remainder. Turnout was 52.50%, down on the previous election. The result extended one of the longest tenures of any serving head of state, and the contest was overshadowed by a security crackdown, an internet shutdown around polling, and opposition allegations of fraud.
Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986 at the head of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) after a guerrilla war, and has governed ever since. Constitutional changes removed the presidential two-term limit in 2005 and the upper age limit in 2017, each time clearing the way for him to stand again. His long rule has combined periods of stability and economic growth with the steady narrowing of political space, and the 2026 election was the latest in a series of contests in which the opposition has alleged repression and irregularities.
The president is elected by a two-round majority system, though in practice no second round has ever been required. Parliament is large — well over 500 seats — combining several hundred directly elected constituency members chosen by first-past-the-post with seats reserved for women (one per district) and others for special interest groups such as the army, youth and persons with disabilities. The president holds extensive executive power and is both head of state and head of government.
Yoweri Museveni stood again for the NRM. His principal challenger was Bobi Wine, the musician-turned-politician who leads the National Unity Platform (NUP) and draws strong support from Uganda's overwhelmingly young population. Veteran opposition figures Nandala Mafabi of the Forum for Democratic Change and Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation also ran, but the contest was, as in 2021, essentially a two-way confrontation between Museveni and Bobi Wine.
The campaign unfolded amid arrests of opposition supporters, restrictions on rallies and reports of violence, a pattern familiar from previous Ugandan elections. Around polling, the authorities again curtailed internet access. Bobi Wine's youth-driven movement faced the full weight of the state's security apparatus, and the conditions of the contest were widely criticised by human rights organisations.
Museveni's official share of roughly 72% was comfortably ahead of Bobi Wine's 25%, while turnout fell to 52.5%. The drop in participation, in a country where elections are hard-fought but their outcome widely seen as predetermined, was read by some observers as a sign of resignation among parts of the electorate.
The election drew sharp international criticism: members of the United States Senate described it as a hollow exercise, and Human Rights Watch documented abuses around the vote. Bobi Wine rejected the result, alleging fraud, and left the country after the outcome was announced, citing concerns for his safety. The government maintained that the election was legitimate.
With Museveni now into a fifth decade in power and advancing in age, the question of succession looms over Ugandan politics. Attention has increasingly focused on his son, a senior army commander, fuelling speculation about a possible dynastic transition. How and when power eventually changes hands is among the most consequential uncertainties facing the country.
The 2026 result echoed previous Museveni victories. In 2021 he won with about 58% against roughly 35% for Bobi Wine, in a vote also marred by violence and an internet shutdown; earlier contests in 2016 and 2011 followed a similar template of a comfortable official win amid opposition complaints. The widening of his margin in 2026 came alongside a fall in turnout.
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with a median age in the mid-teens, and the majority of voters have known no leader other than Museveni. That demographic reality is central to the country's politics: Bobi Wine's movement draws heavily on young, urban Ugandans frustrated by unemployment and the lack of opportunity, while the government leans on rural networks, patronage and the security services. The generational gulf between an ageing ruler and a youthful electorate is one of the defining tensions of Ugandan public life.
Beyond its borders, Uganda is an important regional actor: a member of the East African Community, a major contributor of troops to peacekeeping and counter-insurgency operations in Somalia, and a player in the instability of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prospects of future oil production add another dimension to the country's economy and to the stakes of who controls the state.
Electoral Commission of Uganda.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.