• Museveni says about 10 million registered voters, whom he considers NRM supporters, did not turn up to vote.

• The NRM candidate won the January 15 election with about 71%, while Bobi Wine secured 24%.

• Regional leaders, including Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Kenya’s William Ruto, have congratulated Museveni on his victory.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has come out to reveal how the opposition was lucky that a significant number of National Resistance Movement (NRM) supporters did not turn up to vote. The President made the remarks while receiving his official victory results at his country home in Rwakitura, following the January 15 presidential election.

According to President Museveni, Uganda’s electoral register contains over 21 million voters, with about 18 million fully registered and eligible to vote. However, he noted that a large portion of these voters stayed away from polling stations.

“The opposition were lucky because 10 million of my people didn’t turn up to vote. They would have been embarrassed badly because we got about 8 million votes, but remember we had 21 million voters in our register, and 18 million of them are registered voters. We are now talking about 8 million who turned up, and many of those who didn’t turn up are our members,” President Museveni said during his victory speech.

Official figures indicate that about 11 million voters participated in the January 15 presidential election. President Museveni, the NRM flag bearer, emerged winner with over 7 million votes, translating to approximately 71 percent of the total vote cast. His closest challenger, National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, garnered about 24 percent.

Earlier in the campaign period, President Museveni had predicted that he would secure an overwhelming victory of around 80 percent. However, the final results showed that he fell short of that target by about nine percentage points.

Despite the lower-than-expected margin, the President continues to receive congratulatory messages from supporters within Uganda and from leaders across the region and beyond. Among those who have congratulated him are fellow East African heads of state, including Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and Kenya’s President William Ruto, who praised Museveni’s re-election and reaffirmed their commitment to continued regional cooperation.