20110217
Xinhua
KAMPALA, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Uganda is set to go to the polls to elect a new president on Friday. Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni is one of the eight candidates vying for the country's top job.

Museveni, who is the presidential candidate for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), is seeking another five-year term. He has been in power for 25 years.

Born on Aug. 15, 1944 in the southwestern district of Ntungamo, Museveni has spent most of his life as a freedom fighter.

During his high school and university days he got involved in liberation struggles, promoting the Pan African ideology, according to State House website, www.statehouse.go.ug

In the 1970's, Museveni was involved in struggles to oust Uganda's military strongman Idi Amin.

When Amin was toppled in 1979, Museveni served as a minister of defense and vice chairman of the Military Council.

In 1981 he waged a guerilla war after losing in what he called rigged elections held in December 1980.

Museveni's coming into power in 1986 was welcomed by Ugandans who had suffered military brutality.

The international community also welcomed Museveni, seeing him as a new breed on the continent.

He implemented macro-economic policies which put back the country's economy on a recovery trend.

His government is also globally acknowledged for pulling down the country's HIV prevalence rate from 18 percent in the 1990's to the current 6.4 percent.

Museveni has also been involved in solving problems in the region for instance the Burundi crisis, the 2008 Kenyan post election crisis, among others.

He has also been acknowledged for deploying Ugandan peacekeeping troops in volatile Somalia.

In 2005, Museveni faced national and international criticism when legislators amended the country's Constitution that barred a president to rule more than two consecutive five-year terms.

The abolition of the term limits paved the way for Museveni to run for the presidency in 2006 after completing two five-year terms.

In this election, Museveni will face off with other seven presidential candidates.

His main opponent is his former physician Kizza Besigye who has contested against him twice in 2006 and 2001.

Recent opinion polls have predicted that Museveni will win the elections with over 60 percent.