The party’s top executive organ the Central Executive Committee (CEC) announced the endorsement after a retreat late on Tuesday.
“To emphatically recommend to the membership of the movement and its organs that His Excellency Yoweri Museveni our leader and General of the African Resistance, continues leading the movement and the state in 2021 and beyond- as we eliminate the bottlenecks to transformation” a statement by the NRM read.
The endorsement means that 74-year old Museveni who has ruled Uganda since 1986 will again stand as the sole NRM candidate for the 2021 election to vie for a sixth term in office.
This comes only one year after the Ugandan parliament amended the constitution to remove the age limit cap of 75 for any one intending to run for the presidency.
The age limit was the last hurdle against the extension of Museveni’s rule as he would be 76 years old by the 2021 elections.
Museveni’s long hold on power has been marred by accusations of corruption, human rights violations and poor social services which have left many Ugandans especially the youths yearning for a change of government.