20100912
reuters

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party backed President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, as its candidate on Sunday for next year's presidential election.

Already one of Africa's longest serving leaders, Museveni was elected unopposed in front of more than 15,000 party members to face off against retired Colonel Kizza Besigye, already nominated by a coalition of opposition parties.

"His excellency President Yoweri Museveni has passed unopposed as party chairman and our flagbearer for the 2011 presidential elections and so he remains our chairman and our candidate," said Felicitus Magomu, chairperson of the NRM electoral commission.

Museveni rose to power in 1986 when his National Resistance Army (NRA) insurgents seized power from a short-lived military junta.

He embraced a no-party model of democracy meant to eliminate the sectarianism that plagued post-colonial Ugandan politics, while foreign donors praised his prudent and liberal economic management.

In the past decade, however, support at home has fallen and relations with the West have frayed because of mounting accusations by the opposition and rights groups that his leadership has turned autocratic and corrupt.

Political analysts say Museveni, whose share of the vote has dwindled at each of the last three elections amid allegations of increased rigging, could face his stiffest challenge yet if the opposition coalition holds together.

The fragility of the opposition Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) was highlighted last month when one of the five parties withdrew in a dispute over a demand to replace the Electoral Commission.