2026 election: Besigye, Muntu’s parties join forces

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The newly formed People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party and that of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) have joined forces to boost their chances in the 2026 general election.

The two parties are the brainchild of jailed four-time presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye and former army commander Maj. Gen. (rtd) Mugisha Muntu, who broke away from the Forum for Democratic Change party, which they both helped found in 2004.

On Wednesday (July 2), the leaders of both parties held a meeting at Hotel Africana in Kampala to launch a new political cooperation.

PFF was led by its interim president and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, while ANT was led by Muntu, who is also a former presidential candidate.

By the time of writing this story, the meeting had just started, and it was not yet clear whether the National Unity Platform, which is the main opposition party, would also attend.

Analysts say if the opposition were to unite behind a single presidential candidate, which many of them doubt can or will happen, they would certainly give the ruling National Resistance Movement party and President Yoweri Museveni pause for thought.

Given what they see in opposition political parties and in relations among them, however, they will be as fragmented at the next presidential election as they have been in the past.

They argue that fragmentation is what really damages prospects for any candidate seeking to unseat President Museveni to have a good shot at doing so.

The Electoral Commission roadmap says the next general election will take place on January 12 and February 9, 2026, but candidates for presidential, parliamentary and local government seats will be nominated from June to October 2025.