2026 presidential race shaping up to be most crowded

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The 2026 presidential race is shaping up to be the most crowded in recent history, with 121 aspirants having so far picked up nomination forms from the Electoral Commission (EC) headquarters in Kampala.

The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has already claimed credit for the increasing number of aspirants.

“It is a credit to NRM that the presidency has been made simple and easy that everybody admires the way the President handles issues,” party secretary general Richard Todwong told journalists on Wednesday (August 13).

This was shortly after he and the party's first national vice-chairperson Al-Hajji Moses Kigongo picked nomination forms on behalf of incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.

Todwong argued that if the NRM and President Museveni, who is also the party’s national chairperson, were not handling the office of the presidency well, many would not have aspired to be candidates.

“But by the fact that they have come to pick forms, it is a vote of confidence in the NRM and the President in particular. We have made the Office of the President very accommodative to anybody,” he stated.

He used the occasion to say that they are ready as a party for anybody who is going to run for president individually or as a group.

“You have to expect many new things because society keeps changing and we also change by the dynamics of society. There are many things we are going to bring and you will see them when we launch our campaigns,” he added.

In the 2021-2026 NRM election manifesto, Museveni says in the foreword that under the party’s leadership, the country’s democracy has “deepened and blossomed to full maturity, to the extent that anyone can now dream of leading Uganda”.

“At every definitive stage on our long journey, the visionary leadership of NRM has always championed progressive policies and programmes to steer the country forward,” Mueveni, who has led Uganda uninterrupted since January 1986, writes.

The exercise of collecting the forms is being carried out physically at the EC head offices from 8:00am to 5:00pm on weekdays.

Observers say the number of aspirants could increase, with the nomination dates set for September 23-24, 2025.

Presidential hopefuls also pick supporter forms and nomination guidelines for use in collecting signatures of not less than 100 registered voters from at least 98 districts in Uganda.

The law states that a person aspiring for nomination as a presidential candidate must be a citizen of Uganda by birth and a registered voter aged 18 years or above. They must submit certified copies of educational qualifications confirming that they obtained a minimum of A’ Level education or its equivalent.

It’s one thing to pick nomination forms, but quite another to actually be in the race.