Uganda’s ruling party has endorsed President Yoweri Museveni as its candidate in 2021 elections.
According to local media, NRM made the resolution on Tuesday afternoon during a five day retreat of CEC at Chobe Safari Lodge in Nwoya district.
The National Resistance Movement called for Museveni to ‘continue leading the movement and the state in 2021 and beyond to eliminate bottlenecks to transformation.’
This means that Museveni who has been president since 1986 will now contest for a sixth term in office, potentially extending his rule to 40 years. He will be 76 years old by then.
Museveni controversially won the last election with 60.75 percent of the votes with his closest rival Kizza Besigye getting 35 per cent.
The move comes after a bill was signed in December 2017 scrapping a presidential age limit of 75, which would have blocked Museveni from running again, sparking demonstrations and an outcry from the opposition which accused the president of seeking to rule for life.
The constitutional court in July last year ruled in favour of removing the limit. Last month Uganda’s Supreme Court began hearing a petition to challenge this decision.