President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has opened up a substantial lead in the vote counting after Uganda’s General Election on Thursday.
Partial results aired by local media, including NBS Television, placed the veteran leader of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) well ahead of his rivals, with roughly seven in ten votes counted so far attributed to him. If sustained, the margin would put Museveni on course for a seventh term in office, extending a rule that began in 1986.
DECLARED
Live updates from NBS indicated that Museveni had secured about 70.8% of the votes announced at that stage, equivalent to 4,709,643 ballots from the polling stations declared. The figures reflect only a fraction of the total vote, with counting continuing across Uganda’s regions and the electoral commission yet to issue comprehensive national results.
The early data nevertheless point to a wide gap between Museveni and his closest challenger, the opposition figure Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, widely known as Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Platform (NUP). Kyagulanyi, a former pop star turned politician, has emerged in recent years as the most prominent electoral threat to Museveni, particularly among younger and urban voters.
As in previous elections, the announcement of partial results has been accompanied by heightened political tension. Opposition parties have repeatedly urged their supporters to remain vigilant, arguing that early tallies can shift as more returns are processed, especially from areas where Museveni traditionally performs less strongly. The government, for its part, has called for patience, stressing that only results formally declared by the Electoral Commission carry legal weight.
CLOSELY WATCHED
Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama, the chair of the Electoral Commission, has said the collation process is proceeding in line with electoral law, with results being transmitted from polling stations to constituency and national tallying centres. He cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from incomplete data.
Uganda’s elections are closely watched both domestically and internationally, given Museveni’s long tenure and recurring debates over democratic space, electoral integrity and the conduct of security forces during campaigns. With millions of votes still to be counted, attention is now focused on whether the early trend holds as results from more constituencies are announced in the coming hours and days.
