As Uganda gears up for the January 2026 General Election in which President Museveni plans to extend his rule to 45 years, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) have warned opposition politicians against rallying voters to linger at polling stations after casting their ballots.
Over time, National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, has been calling upon his supporters to hang around polling centres to observe whatever happens there.
To him, the strategy, codenamed ‘Protest Vote’, is meant to, among others, guard against vote rigging, which he and other opposition leaders claim has featured prominently in past elections.
At a recent campaign rally, President Museveni, 81, also said Mr Kyagulanyi’s party had stolen over two million votes in the 2021 General Election in which he was declared the winner.
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The UPDF commanded by Mr Museveni’s son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and the Electoral Commission (EC), chaired by Justice Simon Byabakama, have in the recent past asked Ugandans to leave polling stations immediately after casting their ballots on January 15, 2026.
To the opposition politicians, the UPDF and EC call is suspicious, given that no law bans voters from observing what’s happening at polling stations from a distance.
By law, voters are allowed to stay at least 20 metres away from the polling station after casting their ballots.
Mr Kyagulanyi’s call has in the recent past been reinforced by several political commentators and a section of religious leaders who have questioned the intentions of the Electoral Commission and the army.
‘Security has noted with concern the continuous rhetoric by the NUP Presidential candidate calling upon his supporters to mob polling centres on Election Day, and thereafter march to the capital Kampala. He also encourages his supporters to be prepared to confront the security forces because, in his view, the police and UPDF would be outnumbered on the ground. This type of polarising language is very unfortunate indeed. It is ill-advised, toxic, shallow in logic, and dangerous. The security forces strongly condemn the spirit and message behind the call, and we contend that this must stop henceforth,’ said acting director of Defence public information MODV/UPDF, Col Chris Magezi.
According to him, those who incite violence and promote anarchy in the country by misleading the youth to violently confront the security forces will not themselves escape the outcome.
‘The net effect will be a futile and zero-sum game with no winners, and contemporary examples abound in the world around us and beyond. Further, and recalling our long history of instability, it is inconceivable that an aspiring national leader would seek to undermine the credibility of the country’s security forces, the foundation upon which everything else thrives,’ Col Magezi said.
Col Magezi further warned that the country’s armed forces, and the UPDF in particular, are highly capable, organised, proficient and lethal.
According to him, there is no threat the army, charged with protecting Uganda’s borders, cannot deal with, ‘and it will be very bad news for those who do not heed the warnings.’
‘If the NUP leader is in doubt about the capabilities of our armed forces, he should consult the al-Shabaab in Somalia, the ADF and CODECO in DRC, or Joseph Kony and his defunct LRA in CAR, as well as other violent and negative groups in the region. Therefore, the modern-day Alice Lakwena’s, or the Kirumira Mutimas of the Ruwenzori region, recently (who similarly confuse young people into reckless misadventures) have no place in Uganda’s progress and transformational journey,’ Col Magezi said.
Ever since Mr Kyagulanyi declared his intention to challenge Mr Museveni’s presidency in 2020, he and his supporters have been subjected to brutality, arrests and enforced disappearances.
Many of his supporters who were arrested before, during and and after the 2021 General Election are still languishing in prison, where some of them were remanded by the General Court Martial.
The NUP leadership says over 500 of their supporters have been arrested ever since Mr Kyaguanyi declared his intention to challenge Mr Museveni again.
Ever since political campaigns were officially opened in September this year, many opposition candidates have had their nominations revoked by the Electoral Commission on various allegations or denounced opposition in favour of the ruling party, National Resistance Movement (NRM). Most of the affected candidates are from NUP.