Uganda’s oldest opposition party, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), will not appear on the presidential ballot in 2026 after the Electoral Commission ruled that the party had failed to meet legal and constitutional requirements.
The announcement came after weeks of internal fights that climaxed on September 21 when UPC leaders including Jimmy James Michael Akena, Denis Enap Adim, Joseph Pinytek Ochieno, and Peter Walubiri Mukidi met EC officials in a tense closed-door session. What was meant to settle questions of legitimacy instead exposed deep cracks at the top of the party.
On September 22, EC chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama delivered the decision that neither Akena nor Adim could stand as UPC’s presidential flag bearer. He pointed to binding court judgments and breaches of the party’s own constitution as reasons behind the disqualification.
At the centre of the storm is a ruling by the High Court in Misc. Cause No. 148 of 2025 which held that Akena had already served his maximum two terms as UPC president. The same ruling nullified his nomination for another term, a decision that has never been overturned. The Electoral Commission also dismissed the party’s attempt to extend Akena’s mandate through a virtual delegates’ conference, noting that the move defied a court order and violated Articles 25(2) and (3) of the UPC constitution.
The commission went further, declaring Akena’s nomination for the 2026 to 2030 term illegal, while Adim’s nomination failed to satisfy Article 13(5) of the UPC constitution. Peter Walubiri was also ruled out since he never formally entered the nomination process for party president.
The feud escalated earlier this year when Adim successfully challenged Akena’s extension of office in court. That legal victory set the stage for Monday’s ruling, with the Electoral Commission stressing that UPC’s internal processes fell short of Section 10 of the Political Parties and Organisations Act, which governs leadership transitions in political parties.
Even as the ruling was being delivered, social media claims circulated suggesting that Akena had been cleared to run. But Joseph Ochieno’s lawyer, Jude Byamukama of JByamukama Advocates, dismissed the reports as false.
With the nomination deadline approaching, UPC now faces the grim reality of missing the presidential race for the first time in its history. For a party that once produced Milton Obote, Uganda’s first executive prime minister and later president, the prospect of sitting out 2026 underscores the scale of its current crisis.
