President Museveni has said the opposition would have suffered a much heavier defeat had all National Resistance Movement (NRM) members turned up to vote in the 2026 presidential election.
“The opposition were lucky because 10 million of my people didn’t turn up. They would have been embarrassed badly,” Museveni said in his acceptance speech on Sunday during a function held at his country home in Rwakitura.
Museveni was on Saturday declared the winner of the 2026 presidential election after garnering 7.9 million votes, representing 71.65 percent of the total votes cast.
Speaking on Sunday, Museveni referred to the NRM membership register, which he said lists about 21 million members, as evidence of the party’s numerical strength. He noted that 18 million of those members are registered voters.
“We got about eight million votes, but remember when we reviewed our membership, we had 21 million members and 18 million of them were voters. Now we are talking about eight million who voted, while about 10 million did not turn up,” Museveni said.
The president said the current political atmosphere mirrors that of 1996, a few years after the NRM had captured power, when he said the opposition struggled to gain traction among voters.
“If you remember the election of 1996, people were not willing to listen to anything from Paul Ssemwogerere, and he had no impact in many parts of the country. This was because we had dealt with key issues such as disciplining the army, which people were happy with,” Museveni said.
He added that the government had at the time begun rehabilitating infrastructure and addressing basic shortages of essential commodities such as soap and salt, which helped to unite the population.
“People were so united. This atmosphere is coming back, and in many areas it is because of peace, especially in Northern Uganda and West Nile,” he said.
Museveni also said government programs such as the Parish Development Model have renewed hope among citizens that poverty can be eliminated, alongside the introduction of skilling hubs across the country.
