President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who also serves as the National Chairman of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), has called on all party members to actively participate in the upcoming party elections. In a statement issued on Sunday, Museveni announced the suspension of the Monday Cabinet meeting and requested the Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among, to suspend Tuesday’s parliamentary sitting to allow ministers and Members of Parliament to join the exercise.
“I am alerting and requesting all NRM members to go to their respective village centers by 10:00 AM on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, to do two things: take part in the baraza to verify the members registered in the NRM registers, and take part in the election of the NRM LCI flag-bearer for chairmanship, as well as elect village NRM structures,” Museveni said. He emphasized that these activities should strictly take place between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM.
The President added that he would personally participate in the verification exercise at Rwakitura village, while the First Lady, Janet Museveni, would do the same in Ntungamo’s Ireenga village. However, Museveni clarified that he would not endorse any candidate. “As chairman of the NRM, I welcome any choice of our members. I cannot and should not, therefore, take sides,” he stated.
The NRM exercise is part of preparations for the 2026 general elections scheduled for January. Political parties are already implementing their electoral roadmaps to select flagbearers for various positions. Last week, both the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and the Democratic Party (DP) closed the window for expression of interest from those seeking their presidential flagbearer slots.
In DP, party president Norbert Mao declared his intention to continue leading the party and, by extension, stand as its presidential flagbearer. In FDC, party president Patrick Amuriat Oboi and Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi both picked nomination forms to contest for the flagbearer position. Unlike in DP, the FDC party president does not automatically become the presidential candidate.