Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has announced his bid for a seventh term in elections set for 2026, a move that could extend his 39-year rule to nearly five decades. He has positioned himself as a staunch opponent of Western interference in the East African country’s affairs.

The longtime leader announced his decision on Saturday after picking up nomination forms at the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party headquarters in the capital, Kampala.

Museveni said he had been “energized… to take up the mantle to lead the country for the next five years” by the support he received while touring the country.

“In this coming term, I will make sure that we really move into value addition like sugar production, coffee processing and other products,” he told supporters. The leader also vowed to crack down on corruption if reelected.

Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986 and currently ranks as the world’s third-longest consecutively serving non-royal head of state, after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema and Cameroon’s Paul Biya. The 80-year-old leader has drawn international criticism for allegedly suppressing opposition, amending the constitution to remove presidential age and term limits, and enacting some of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws.

In 2023, he signed a law that introduced the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” triggering widespread condemnation and sanctions from the US and other Western governments. Museveni dismissed the criticism as foreign interference, stating that Uganda would not be dictated to by donors, including the World Bank, which suspended new funding to Kampala citing human rights concerns.

He has repeatedly denounced Western aid conditionality as neocolonialism. Earlier this year, Uganda became an official partner state of BRICS – a grouping that several African nations are seeking to join to diversify their trade and economic partnerships.

In a post on X on Saturday, the Ugandan leader claimed the landlocked country has passed through five stages of development under his rule and outlined a target to grow the economy to $500 billion over the next five years.

There has been speculation that Museveni is grooming his son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who serves as the chief of Uganda People’s Defense Forces, as a successor. The army chief fueled the claims with a now-deleted post on X in which he declared his intention to run for president in 2026. Opposition parties have criticized what they describe as a dynastic project – an accusation Museveni has denied.

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