Museveni Opens Wide Gap as Early Results Roll In from Uganda Presidential Poll

By Brian Kiprono - Reporter

Uganda, January 16, 2026 - Uganda’s presidential race is beginning to take shape, with incumbent President Yoweri Museveni emerging with a strong early advantage as preliminary results continue to trickle in from across the country. Figures released on Friday by the Uganda Electoral Commission (EC) show Museveni has secured 3,960,438 votes, translating to 76.25 per cent of the valid ballots counted so far. The results are drawn from 22,758 polling stations, accounting for 5,194,338 valid votes.

EC Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama, who announced the second set of provisional results, said counting is ongoing and more updates are expected as additional tallies are received. Trailing behind Museveni is opposition leader Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu), who has so far garnered 1,312,047 votes, representing 19.85 per cent of the vote. All other contenders remain in single-digit territory.

Among them, Nandala Mafabi has polled 108,301 votes (2.08 per cent), Mugisha Muntu 29,504 (0.57 per cent), Frank Bulira 23,267 (0.45 per cent), Robert Kasibante 15,929 (0.31 per cent), Mubarak Munyagwa 14,742 (0.28 per cent), and Joseph Mabirizi 10,910 (0.21 per cent).

The commission also reported 129,441 invalid votes and 17,281 spoilt ballots, bringing the total number of votes processed so far to 5,323,779. Justice Byabakama said the next official update would be issued at 2:00 pm on January 16, 2026, as verification and tallying continue in various regions.

Museveni’s early dominance reflects a familiar pattern in Uganda’s elections, where the veteran leader has often built substantial leads during the initial stages of counting. The contest is a closely watched rematch between the 81-year-old president, who has ruled for four decades, and 43-year-old Bobi Wine, the pop star-turned-politician who has mobilised a strong youth following.

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However, the voting process itself has not been without challenges. On polling day, attention turned to technical hitches after President Museveni personally experienced difficulties with biometric voter verification. At his polling station, electronic identification machines reportedly failed to recognise his fingerprints, briefly delaying his vote — a problem similar to what many voters across the country encountered.

“I put my right fingerprints on the machines, but it didn’t work. The machine did not accept it. I put my left fingerprints, but it did not accept it,” Museveni told journalists after the incident. “It could be they took them in a different angle. But my face was scanned and accepted by the machine,” he said.

As the count progresses, all eyes remain on the Electoral Commission’s next update, which is expected to further clarify the direction of one of Uganda’s most consequential elections.