Uganda’s ruling party said Tuesday that the country’s long-running president Yoweri Museveni will seek re-election in polls due early next year.

The 80-year-old had been widely expected to try and extend his almost four-decade rule over the East African country.

The opposition has faced a mounting crackdown ahead of the general election in January, with leading activists and politicians intimidated, abducted and detained.

Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM) party said in a statement on its website that the leader “seeks to retain the positions of the NRM chairman and party presidential flag bearer in the 2026 elections”.

Tanga Odoi, NRM chairperson of the electoral commission, confirmed to AFP that Museveni would declare an “interest for the president as the party flag bearer in the forthcoming general elections”.

Once hailed for his commitment to good governance, the former rebel leader has crushed any opposition and tweaked the constitution to allow himself to run again and again.

His announcement follows one of his most prominent opponents, musician-turned-politician, Bobi Wine, also confirming that he intended to run in 2026.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, lost to Museveni in elections in 2021 that were marred by widespread reports of irregularities and severe violence from security forces.

He has been arrested numerous times, with Museveni’s son and heir-apparent General Muhoozi Kainerugaba repeatedly threatening to behead him on social media.

Last year, Kizza Besigye, another long-time electoral foe, was abducted in neighbouring Kenya and brought to Uganda where he now faces the death penalty for treason.

The charges have been widely condemned by international rights groups, with his wife UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima saying he had been detained “for political reasons.”

“He is being criminalised because he has challenged, he has put himself forward as a candidate in elections,” she said. (AFP)