KAMPALA, UGANDA – Hundreds of National Unity Platform (NUP) members overcrowded the party’s headquarters in Makerere-Kavule on Saturday September 20, 2025, to submit a new batch of signatures required for the nomination of their presidential flag bearer, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The gathering came in direct response to a communique from the Electoral Commission (EC) notifying the party that its initial submission was non-compliant.
According to the EC, a verification process revealed that although 80 of the 98 submitted districts met the required number of signatures, 18 districts fell short.
Prompted to mobilize supporters to collect additional signatures, NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya confirmed the party is prepared to present its candidate for nomination on Tuesday, September 23.
He confirmed that the party had successfully gathered more than 18,000 signatures across the 18 previously non-compliant districts, fully meeting the Electoral Commission’s rectification request.
Rubongoya also challenged the EC to provide a detailed report explaining why signatures from 50 of the 130 districts originally submitted by NUP were rejected, while those submitted for President Yoweri Museveni were approved.
“The Electoral Commission must produce a comprehensive report explaining why they rejected NUP signatures from 50 out of the 130 districts we originally submitted, while simultaneously approving those of Mr. Museveni,” Rubongoya said.
The nomination of presidential candidates in Uganda is scheduled for September 23–24, 2025, at the Electoral Commission’s headquarters in Lweza-Lubowo, Makindye Ssabagabo.
The process is a rigorous legal hurdle: aspirants must submit signatures from at least 100 registered voters in no fewer than 98 districts.
To date, the EC has reported that only two aspirants have fully met the requirements: incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leader Nathan Nandala Mafabi.
NUP’s ability to secure Kyagulanyi’s nomination on Tuesday is considered crucial for what is expected to be a highly contested election in 2026.
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