Uganda’s Museveni to seek re-election for seventh term

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni will be seeking re-election for a seventh term in polls due early next year.

Tanga Odoi, electoral commission chief of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), said on Monday that Museveni would pick up expression of interest forms at the party’s headquarters on June 28.

The move will extend his nearly four-decade rule in the East African nation.

Museveni, who turns 81 in September, has been in power since 1986 after he led a five-year guerrilla war to kick Milton Obote and later Tito Okello out of the State House.

His leadership has faced criticisms for election rigging and suppression of opposition — but he has often based his ambition to remain in power on experience.

Over the weekend, Norbert Mao, minister for constitutional affairs, advised Ugandans not to expect a change in leadership through elections.

Mao said a genuine transition can only be achieved through negotiation.

Museveni is Africa’s fourth-longest serving president, trailing behind a list of leaders who have maintained long tenures through a combination of constitutional changes, electoral manipulation, and suppression of political opposition.

Teodoro Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea holds the record as Africa’s longest-serving president with 45 years in power, followed closely by Paul Biya of Cameroon with 43 years, and Denis Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo who has ruled for 39 years.