President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa has secured a seventh term in office after the Electoral Commission declared him winner of Uganda’s 2026 presidential election.
Announcing the results on Saturday evening, Electoral Commission chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama said Museveni emerged victorious with an overwhelming majority of the votes cast.
“The Commission hereby declares the candidate Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni as the President-elect,” Byabakama said, adding that the Commission congratulated Ugandans for the “successful conduct” of the polls held on 15 January 2026.
According to the final tally, Museveni garnered 7,946,722 votes, representing 71.65 per cent of the total votes cast nationwide. His closest challenger, National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, came second with 2,601,150 votes or 24.26 per cent.
The Electoral Commission said a total of 11,662,201 votes were cast in the presidential election.
The declaration confirms Museveni’s continued grip on power since he first took office in 1986, extending his rule into a seventh term amid a politically charged election period characterised by a strong security deployment and an internet shutdown.
International election observers, led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, called for improvements in electoral administration, particularly in the testing and deployment of election technologies such as Biometric Voter Verification Kits (BVVKs) ahead of future polls.
While the Electoral Commission defended the credibility of the process, opposition figures have raised concerns about the conduct of the election and signalled possible legal challenges.
Museveni is expected to be sworn in for another term in the coming weeks, continuing one of the longest-serving presidencies in Africa.
