The African Union on Saturday, January 17 courted controversy after commending the conduct of the recently concluded Uganda General elections, saying that it was in line with the democratic rights of the people of Uganda.
In a statement on Saturday, January 18, the Commission's chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, noted that the joint African Union–COMESA–IGAD Election Observation Mission to Uganda was fundamental in ensuring that the elections were seamless.
Youssouf further applauded the people of Uganda for upholding peace and security, while also embracing democratic gains during the elections.
Further congratulated President-elect Yoweri Museveni for clinching the country's top seat in the elections.
"The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, commends the conduct of the elections in Uganda and congratulates H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on his re-election with 71.61% of the votes cast during the presidential elections held on 15 January 2026," the statement read.
"The Chairperson expresses sincere appreciation to H.E. Goodluck Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for his sterling leadership of the Joint African Union, COMESA, IGAD election Observation Mission to Uganda," it added.
However, AU's statement triggered criticism online, with some people questioning the union's assessment of the general elections, some even branding the union's leadership as incompetent.
Furthermore, others claimed that the union's statement undermined concerns raised by sections of the opposition, who argued that the election process was irregular.
"Africa continues to be the way it is, because the AU is doing the bidding of tyrants and dictators," One comment read.
"The election results do not represent us as Ugandans—we reject Museveni and all his enablers," another one added.
The Uganda Electoral Commission declared Museveni the winner of Uganda's presidential race on Saturday, January 17, after garnering 71.65 per cent of the total votes, translating to 7,946,772 votes
According to the commission, Museveni's main opponent and National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, came second.
Bobi, who had earlier rejected the election results, saying that they were 'a massive fraud, ' garnered 24.72 percent of the total votes cast, translating to 2,741,238 votes.
