DP to back Museveni in 2026 general election—Mbidde

________________

Democratic Party (DP) vice-president Fred Mukasa Mbidde says they will throw their full weight behind President Yoweri Museveni in the 2026 General Election.

He told a local radio station in Kampala on Monday, September 22, 2025, morning that they signed a working co-operation agreement with the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, which is again putting up Museveni in next year’s election.

The formal agreement DP and NRM signed on July 20, 2022, is the first of its kind in Uganda, and it saw the former’s leader, Norbert Mao, a former fierce critic of Museveni, appointed justice minister the following day.

The agreement entails several areas for co-operation between the two parties in areas such as justice and law, peace and security, as well as economy.

Mbidde’s remarks come three days after DP’s national executive committee meeting in Kyadondo, Kampala, decided against fielding a presidential candidate in 2026.

“Just like in 2016, we are not going to put up a presidential candidate. We want to redirect our party resources into the positions we are going to win. The next general election is not going to be about political parties; it is going to be about the new Uganda,” Mbidde told journalists on the sidelines of the conference.

“So, for us we want to prepare DP for the new Uganda. We think, if possible, we can even support the sitting government to continue with its candidate (Museveni) as we prepare for what is going to come as DP. We don’t want to waste time in the next election,” he added.

Group of Five

Mao told a recent media conference that in Uganda there are now two political blocs.

He said one bloc has NRM, DP, Uganda People’s Conference, Forum for Democratic Change and Democratic Front.

“You can call it a Group of Five. That is a big bloc, and it is the biggest bloc. Now, the other group that does not believe in co-operation, we call them ‘regime change fundamentalists’. That group is very poisonous and there is need to remove the poison from their politics because the poison in their politics means they cannot be trusted with power,” he said.

Mao argued that power is not for everyone and that is why the transition will not be based on elections.

“These things are already happening in the rooms which matter and those rooms are not your TV studios. Those TV studios are just like louder speakers. The louder speaker does not speak itself; it is the microphone which matters,” he said.

He also used his speech to state that the 2026 general election is going to be peaceful. “There will be no processions. You will announce where your rally is and you drive there straight. If the people are there, they will listen to you and then they go home. Then on election day people will vote,” he said.

“This is going to be the quietest election you have ever seen in the world. And those who don’t want it to be quiet will be made to be quiet,” the DP boss added.