2026 polls: Opposition figures step up efforts to unite

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Some key opposition figures in Uganda have intensified efforts to form a coalition that could front a unity presidential candidate in next year’s general election.

Several previous attempts by opposition parties and groups to produce a consensus presidential candidate have failed. However, momentum appears to be growing again.

The acting spokesperson of the newly formed People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party and Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, said on Wednesday (July 2) that the public expects opposition parties to unite to bring about regime change.

He made the remarks at Hotel Africana in Kampala, where the PFF and the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate ahead of the 2026 elections.

“We are assembled here to witness the birth of a political cooperation which will be preceded by the signing of an MoU that will commit us to a number of issues our leaders will present to the nation. There is a demand from the population that we need to work together to change the government,” he said.

PFF Spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda speaking during their meeting with ANT on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at Hotel Africana. (Photo by Miriam Najjingo)

Ssemujju noted that the leaders of the two parties took different paths after breaking away from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to form rival parties due to “some disagreements”, which he described as natural.

He added that the process of signing the MoU had been smooth because the two parties share many common values and goals.

“There is a demand outside for us to get together, like in a family. If a mother and a father have a disagreement, the children will demand that they come together again. Disagreements happen in life; they are part of natural processes,” he said.

PFF was represented by its interim president and Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, while ANT was led by Gen. Mugisha Muntu, a former presidential candidate.

Alliance for National Transformation Party President, Mugisha Muntu, shaking hands with PFF President Erias Lukwago after signing the Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at Hotel Africana. (Photo by Miriam Najjingo)

Mpuuga’s call

In a related development, Democratic Front (DF) party president and Nyendo-Mukungwe Division MP, Mathias Mpuuga, has reiterated his call for all forces of change in Uganda to unite in order to collectively tackle the “many challenges” they face.

Speaking to the media in Kampala, Mpuuga said the DF is ready to listen and participate in any joint undertakings by the opposition to bring about regime change in 2026.

“There are so many challenges we can confront jointly, and no single platform in the opposition should step out there and wiseacre that they are ready to do it alone. It would be a serious misrepresentation of reality,” said Mpuuga, who also broke away from the main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), to form a new party.

“As DF, we work and speak realistically, and we have a deep understanding of the challenges around us. Therefore, we have our own proposals we shall pass on to our colleagues in other platforms,” he added.

The last major effort by opposition parties to form a coalition capable of fielding a single presidential candidate was in June 2015 when they launched the Democratic Alliance.

That initiative was intended to present a consensus candidate against President Yoweri Museveni but ultimately failed.

Political analysts say that if the opposition were to unite behind one candidate, though many remain sceptical, it would certainly pose a credible challenge to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and President Museveni.

However, based on current dynamics within opposition parties and their interrelations, analysts believe they are likely to remain fragmented heading into the 2026 elections, as they have in the past.

This fragmentation, they argue, continues to undermine the chances of any candidate hoping to unseat President Museveni.

According to the Electoral Commission’s roadmap, the next general election will be held between January 12 and February 9, 2026. Nominations for presidential, parliamentary, and local government candidates will take place between June and October 2025.