Son of Uganda’s president gives up on running for office in 2026

Yoweri Museveni’s son announced on Saturday that he would not be running for president in the next election in 2026. Instead, he asked his fans to support his father.

Many people think that President Museveni, who has been in charge of the country for 38 years, will run for re-election, even though he hasn’t said for sure yet.

As Muhoozi Kainerugaba wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “I would like to announce that I will not be on the ballot paper in 2026,”

He told his fans, “I fully support President Yoweri Museveni in the next elections.” He was asking them to vote for his father for a seventh term.

Many people think that Kainerugaba, who is currently in charge of the country’s military, will one day become his father’s chosen replacement. However, he is known for saying things that people don’t like. In 2022, Museveni told Kenya he was sorry after his son made a threat on Twitter to attack the nearby country.

The opposition in Uganda has long said that Museveni wants to turn the country into a monarchy, which the president rejects.

Museveni, who is 80 years old, has been president of Uganda since 1986. To keep his power, he has changed the law twice.

Human rights activists and Museveni’s political opponents, such as the singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine, have long said that the president jails, scares, or tortures people who back the opposition. Museveni disputes these claims.

Wine came in second place in the 2021 election for president. He didn’t accept the results and said that they were rigged and that his fans had been harmed or taken away.

Museveni said it was the cleanest vote ever in Uganda.