Following the January 15, 2026 General Election in Uganda, President Museveni is in a commanding lead with 75.38% of the valid votes so far collected from 30,138 polling stations, according to provisional results.
The country’s Electoral Commission chairman, Justice Simon Byabakama, in his third presentation of provisional results on Friday afternoon, said Mr Museveni, who seeks to extend his rule beyond four decades, had so far garnered 5,148,845 votes from 59.4% of the polling stations whose results had been counted by 2 pm.
According to the polling chief, Mr Museveni’s closest contender, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP) had polled 1,414,619 votes, constituting 20.71% of the valid votes counted so far.
By the time of announcing the third batch of the provisional results, whose presentation was witnessed by former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) candidate, James Nathan Nandala Mafabi, had garnered 144,564 of the valid votes counted so far. This, according to EC, represents 2.12% of the valid votes so far counted.
Other candidates in the race are Frank Bulira with 29,713 (0.44%) votes, Robert Kasibante with 20,626 (0.3%) votes, Joseph Elton Mabirizi with 14,106 (0.21%) votes, Maj Gen (rtd) Gregory Mugisha Muntu with 38,582 (0.56%) votes and Mubarak Munyagwa Sserunga with 19,034 (0.28%) votes.
According to EC, the total number of valid votes so far counted is 6,830,089 while invalid votes are 170,655.
‘The total number of votes cast (both valid and invalid) so far are 7,000,744, constituting 32.34% of registered voters,’ Justice Byabakama said.
Pockets of violence were reported in Kampala metropolitan area, with bullets fired in some parts of the Capital Kampala, such as Makindye Division, where a group of youth is said to have attempted to stage protests.
At least 21,649, 067 Ugandans registered to cast their ballot at 50,739 polling stations across the country in the January 15, 2026, polls, widely seen as a test of President Museveni’s strength as he seeks to extend his rule into a fifth decade.
Voting was delayed in many parts of the country due to faulty Biometric Voters’ Verification Kits (BVVK) amid an internet outage that left opposition candidates raising concerns of vote rigging.
The final results from the Thursday polls are expected to be announced on Saturday, January 17, 2026.
President Museveni, 81, is seeking to extend his rule beyond four decades as the opposition reports ‘widespread ballot stuffing’ and the arrest of their senior members.
‘The world needs to know what is happening in Uganda on Election Day. The Internet switched off. Massive ballot stuffing is reported everywhere. Our leaders, including the Deputy President for Western Region, arrested. Many of our polling agents and supervisors abducted, and others chased off polling stations. BVVK machines have failed everywhere. The people of Uganda must rise to the occasion and reject the criminal regime. the world must never give any legitimacy to the regime of blood and shame,’ Mr Kyagulanyi said in a social media post before his party, NUP, said military officers had surrounded his home in Magere, Wakiso District.
“He’s under military siege. His home was surrounded by police and the army last evening. He’s not able to interact with agents. His home is not a gazetted detention facility. If he has committed any crime, there’s due process. He can be arrested, arraigned in court and dealt with in accordance with the law. But because he has not committed any crime and institutions of the state are unfortunately being dragged into partisan politics on the side of the incumbent, they now must find ways of undermining his ability to do what is within his right as a candidate or citizen of this country,” said NUP National Treasurer, Mr Banjamin Katana.
Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told journalists he was not aware of Mr Kyagulanyi being placed under house arrest.
Security forces confined Mr Kyagulanyi to his home for days after the last election in 2021, in which he was credited with 35% of the vote. The United States said that the election was neither free nor fair, a charge rejected by Ugandan authorities.
The UN human rights office said last week that this year’s election was being held in an environment of “widespread repression and intimidation”.
Security forces repeatedly opened fire at Mr Kyagulanyi’s rallies, killing at least two people, and arrested hundreds of his supporters. The government said it was responding to lawless behaviour.
A Museveni win would hand the former rebel leader a seventh term in office. He is widely believed to favour his son, military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as his successor, though he has denied grooming Kainerugaba for the role.