Uganda's president says strong election victory over his youthful challenger a taste of his strength

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — President Yoweri Museveni said Sunday that his landslide victory in Uganda's election showed the dominance of his party, which has governed the East African country for four decades.

Museveni said a day after he was declared the winner that the result gave “a good taste of the strength” of his party, known as the National Resistance Movement.

Museveni, 81, has stayed in power over the years by rewriting the rules. The last legal obstacles to his rule — term limits and age restrictions — have been removed from the constitution, and some of his possible rivals have been jailed or sidelined.

Museveni took more than 71.6% of the vote while his closest challenger and Uganda’s most prominent opposition leader, Bobi Wine, took 24.7% of the vote, according to official results rejected by Wine as fake.

“The opposition are lucky,” Museveni said about his victory after low voter turnout in Thursday's election. “They have not seen our full strength.” Voter turnout stood at 52%, the lowest since Uganda's return in 2006 to multiparty politics.

Addressing the nation from his country home in western Uganda, where many dignitaries gathered to hear him speak publicly for the first time since his victory, Museveni said that he believed many of those who didn't vote were members of the governing party.

Wine, a musician-turned-politician whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has the option of launching a legal challenge with the courts, which previously have refused opposition efforts to nullify Museveni’s victories while recommending electoral reforms.

Museveni, Africa's third-longest governing president, will serve a seventh term that would bring him closer to five decades in power. His supporters credit him for the relative peace and stability that makes Uganda home to hundreds of thousands fleeing violence elsewhere in the region.

In his speech, Museveni accused the opposition of trying to foment violence during voting. He urged religious leaders to reach out to young people who are likely to be misled into violence.

At least seven opposition supporters of a losing parliamentary candidate with Wine's party were killed by police after they attacked a polling station with machetes in the central district of Butambala, he said.

“Some of the opposition are wrong but also terrorists,” he said, calling Wine and others “traitors.”

Wine, 43, has previously rejected the charge as false, saying he represents the hopes of millions of young people yearning for political change after decades of the same leader.

On Sunday, Wine posted footage on the social platform X of what he said were alleged incidents of ballot stuffing and the intimidation of his representatives on the eve of voting. Authorities didn't immediately respond to those specific allegations.

Uganda's election was marred by a dayslong internet shutdown and the failure of biometric voter identification machines that caused delays in the start of voting in areas including Kampala, the capital. Wine has also alleged that stuffing ballot boxes happened in some areas seen as Museveni's strongholds.

The failure of biometric machines is likely to be a basis for any legal challenge to the official result.

The security forces were a constant presence throughout the election campaign, and Wine said that authorities followed him and harassed his supporters, using tear gas against them. He campaigned in a flak jacket and helmet because of security fears.

Museveni hasn't said when he will retire, and he has no rivals in the upper ranks of his party.

Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he faced treason charges that he says are politically motivated.

Uganda hasn't witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Uganda's security forces patrol a street as supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Supporters of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni celebrate his victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A woman celebrates Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's victory in the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Uganda opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, famously known as Bobi Wine of the National Unity Platform (NUP), arrives with his wife to cast their votes, during the presidential election at a polling station, in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Billboards of Uganda President and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni are seen in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Otieno)

At least six more countries said Sunday the United States has invited them to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” a new body of world leaders meant to oversee next steps in Gaza that’s showing ambitions for a broader mandate in global affairs.

A $1 billion contribution secures permanent membership on the Trump-led board instead of a three-year appointment, which has no contribution requirement, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity about the charter, which hasn’t been made public. The official said the money raised would go to rebuilding Gaza.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accepted an invitation to join the board, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told state radio on Sunday. Orbán is one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Europe.

India has received an invitation, a senior government official with knowledge of the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information hadn’t been made public by authorities.

Jordan, Greece, Cyprus and Pakistan also said Sunday they had received invitations. Canada, Turkey, Egypt, Paraguay, Argentina and Albania have already said they were invited. It was not clear how many have been invited in all.

The U.S. is expected to announce its official list of members in the coming days, likely during the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Those on the board will oversee next steps in Gaza as the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10 moves into its challenging second phase. It includes a new Palestinian committee in Gaza, the deployment of an international security force, disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction of the war-battered territory.

In letters sent Friday to world leaders inviting them to be “founding members,” Trump said the Board of Peace would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict.”

That could become a potential rival to the United Nations Security Council, the most powerful body of the global entity created in the wake of World War II. The 15-seat council has been blocked by U.S. vetoes from taking action to end the war in Gaza, while the U.N.'s clout has been diminished by major funding cuts by the Trump administration and other donors.

Trump’s invitation letters for the Board of Peace noted that the Security Council had endorsed the U.S. 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan, which includes the board’s creation. The letters were posted on social media by some invitees.

The White House last week also announced an executive committee of leaders who will carry out the Board of Peace’s vision, but Israel on Saturday objected that the committee “was not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy,” without details. The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office was rare criticism of its close ally in Washington.

The executive committee’s members include U.S. Secretary of State Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel, along with an Israeli business owner, billionaire Yakir Gabay.

Members also include representatives of ceasefire monitors Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. Turkey has a strained relationship with Israel but good relations with Hamas and could play an important role in persuading the group to yield power in Gaza and disarm.

Boak reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writers Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary and Rajesh Roy in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Sewage overflowed parts of a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)