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Uganda announces first election results
On Friday morning, Uganda’s electoral commission published further preliminary results for the presidential election. According to these results, 81-year-old incumbent Yoweri Museveni (National Resistance Movement, NRM), who is running for a seventh term, is in the lead with 76.25%, followed by opposition leader and musician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine (National Unity Platform, NUP), with 19.85%. The figures are based on counts from 22,758 polling stations, which corresponds to 44.85% of the total 50,739 polling stations. The remaining seven candidates are far behind with 0.02–2.43%. The official election results are expected to be announced on Saturday. In addition to the presidential election, parliamentary elections were also held. There were 353 constituency seats and 146 seats for women representatives up for election. Around 21.7 million people registered to vote.
Election day was overshadowed by organisational problems. Numerous polling stations opened late, resulting in long queues. In some cases, election documents were not available, and in others, the biometric devices used for voter identification failed. The organisational problems contributed to an overall tense atmosphere in the country. In the capital Kampala, election day was marked by a heavy military presence, and since Tuesday evening, internet access has been blocked nationwide – a move that Uganda’s Communications Commission justified on the grounds of ensuring public safety and protecting against misinformation and disinformation. The opposition, however, sharply criticised the internet shutdown and accused the government of obstructing independent election monitoring and the publication and verification of results. In response, the NUP provided the offline app Bitchat, which enables decentralised election monitoring using Bluetooth technology. On election day, Wine made allegations of massive election fraud and harassment of NUP election workers.
Human rights organisations had already complained about an atmosphere of fear in the run-up to the election. There were repeated clashes with security forces at Bobi Wine’s campaign events, with reports of tear gas, water cannons and batons being used; several people were injured and numerous supporters were arrested. Amnesty International spoke of a ‘brutal campaign of repression’, while the police emphasised that these were not targeted measures against the opposition. In terms of content, the election campaign focused primarily on economic issues. Unemployment is particularly high among young people: according to Uganda’s statistics office, in September 2025 more than half of 18- to 30-year-olds were unemployed, underqualified or without vocational training. The dilapidated infrastructure and the education and health systems are also among the key challenges. While Museveni campaigned with the slogan ‘Protecting the gains’ and pursued the goal of developing Uganda into a high middle-income country through investment in industry and agriculture, Bobi Wine promised a new political beginning, the restoration of freedom, the fight against corruption and the creation of jobs.
The election is also being watched internationally. Museveni is considered a strategic partner of European countries and the United States, and has recently intensified cooperation with the Gulf states. During his reign, he opened the country to foreign investment and, among other things, facilitated the market entry of French and Chinese companies to carry out oil drilling in the country. He also sent troops to regional crisis areas such as Somalia and took in around two million refugees. At the same time, experts see the election in Uganda as a test for the region, following nationwide outbreaks of violence in neighbouring Tanzania during the October 2025 elections. In Kenya, too, protests against the government in 2024 resulted in fatalities. In Uganda itself, election day is traditionally considered to be relatively calm. However, the decisive factor is likely to be how security forces and political actors react to the announcement of the results. Bobi Wine has already stated in advance that if the election is rigged, citizens have the right to protest peacefully.