The National Unity Platform (NUP) has formally submitted presidential nomination forms to the Electoral Commission, marking the official start of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu’s (aka Bobi Wine) bid for the presidency in the upcoming 2026 General Election.
NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya confirmed that the party successfully gathered the required endorsements, collecting at least 126,000 signatures from 126 districts, as mandated by the Electoral Commission.
The nomination of presidential candidates is scheduled for September 23 and 24, 2025. Bobi Wine formally joined the race on August 18, when he picked up nomination forms, shortly after being endorsed as NUP’s presidential flag bearer during a delegates’ conference held in June at the party’s training institute in Kamwokya.
The nomination forms were collected on Bobi Wine’s behalf by a high-level delegation of NUP officials, including Rubongoya, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi, and other senior party leaders.
Meanwhile, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has officially confirmed President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as its presidential candidate. Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is seeking a seventh term in office.
His nomination forms were collected last week by NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong and First National Vice Chairman Moses Kigongo.
“His candidacy is not a personal ambition but a party decision. He was nominated unopposed within the party. Anyone claiming otherwise—honestly, I don’t know who they are,” said Todwong.
“The party unanimously endorsed him, based on all the resolutions I’ve received.”
Museveni and Bobi Wine are on a list of more than 160 presidential aspirants who have picked nomination forms. Several political parties, including the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), have also indicated their intention to field candidates in what is shaping up to be a high-stakes general election.
With the 2026 polls approaching, the anticipated rematch between Museveni and Bobi Wine is expected to dominate political discourse, reigniting debates around leadership, democracy, and Uganda’s future.
In the 2021 presidential election, held on January 14, Ugandans exercised their constitutional right to elect a leader for a five-year term. The country had 18,103,603 registered voters across 34,684 polling stations, but only 10,350,819 voters turned out—a voter turnout of 57.2%.
The election featured 11 candidates, with President Museveni winning 6,042,898 votes (58.38%) and Bobi Wine coming second with 3,631,437 votes (35.08%).
Museveni’s victory extended his rule beyond four decades, solidifying his position as one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
