Uganda’s electoral commission on Tuesday set January 15, 2025, as the date for crucial general election that will test the nearly four-decade rule of President Yoweri Museveni against a powerful challenge from a younger generation led by pop star-turned-politician, Robert Kyagulanyi also known as Bobi Wine.
The announcement sets the stage for a political rematch that echoes the fiercely contested and violent 2021 poll. At 81, Museveni is now Africa’s fourth longest-ruling leader and is seeking to extend his tenure to a total of 44 years. His main rival, 43-year-old Robert Kyagulanyi, known by his stage name Bobi Wine, has already signaled that he will again rally the nation’s vast youth demographic against what he calls an entrenched autocracy.
“The commission is ready to deliver a free, fair and transparent electoral process,” said electoral commission chairman Justice Simon Byabakama. The statement was met with skepticism from opposition circles, who point to the previous election, which was marred by widespread allegations of ballot-stuffing, voter intimidation, and a brutal security crackdown.
Bobi Wine, who leads the National Unity Platform (NUP), claims Museveni’s victory in 2021 was illegitimate. In a statement following the date announcement, he urged his supporters to register to vote, calling the upcoming poll a “defining moment for the soul of our nation.”
“The regime has once again started its machinery of intimidation and arrest of our agents,” Wine said. “But the power belongs to the people.”
Officials from Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) party dismiss accusations of rigging. “President Museveni enjoys genuine, widespread support across Uganda for delivering peace, stability, and development,” said NRM spokesman Rogers Mulindwa. “The people will speak loudly again in January.”
The presidential race includes six other candidates from smaller parties, but the central dynamic remains the clash between the old guard and the new.
A former rebel leader, Museveni seized power in 1986 and is credited with stabilizing a nation recovering from years of turmoil, promoting economic growth, and leading a successful national response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. However, critics have grown increasingly vocal about his government’s suppression of political opponents, human rights abuses, and corruption scandals. Government officials deny allegations of rights abuses, stating that all legal processes are followed.
The economic backdrop to this election is significant. Museveni’s government is pinning its hopes on the planned start of crude oil exports next year from fields in the Lake Albert region, operated by France’s TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC. The government projects that oil revenues could help propel economic growth into double digits, a powerful message on the campaign trail in a country where many still live in poverty.
Beyond its borders, Uganda remains a significant geopolitical player in a volatile region. The country has troops deployed in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission, in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo for regional security, and has provided military support to the government of Equatorial Guinea.
As the country enters a new election cycle, the question for many Ugandans is whether the promise of future oil wealth and a legacy of stability will be enough to outweigh demands for political change from a youthful population eager for a new direction. The campaign leading to January 15 is expected to be long, contentious, and closely watched around the world.
