Zohran Mamdani\u2019s stunning victory in New York City\u2019s mayoral race was built on a promise of hope and political change, a message that is resonating loudly with the people in Uganda, where he was born.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old leftist\u2019s decisive win in the United States\u2019 largest metropolis on Wednesday was celebrated by many in Uganda\u2019s capital Kampala, the city where Mamdani was born in 1991.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n For many Ugandans, the unlikely rise of Mamdani \u2013 a young Muslim with roots in Africa and South Asia \u2013 in the world\u2019s most powerful democracy carries an inspirational message in a country where an authoritarian leader has been ruling since even before Mamdani was born.<\/p>\n Uganda\u2019s 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni is seeking a seventh term in January elections as he looks to extend his nearly 40-year rule. He has rejected calls to retire, leading to fears of a volatile political transition.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big encouragement even to us here in Uganda that it\u2019s possible,\u201d Joel Ssenyonyi, a 38-year-old opposition leader in the Parliament of Uganda, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n He said that while Ugandans, who are facing repressive political conditions, had \u201ca long way to get there\u201d, Mamdani\u2019s success \u201cinspires us\u201d.<\/p>\n Mamdani left Uganda when he was five to follow his father, political theorist Mahmood Mamdani, to South Africa, and later moved to the US. He kept his Ugandan citizenship even after he became a naturalised US citizen in 2018, according to AP.<\/p>\n The family maintains a home in Kampala, to which they regularly return and visited earlier this year to celebrate Mamdani\u2019s marriage.<\/p>\n While Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, has vowed to tackle inequality and push back against the xenophobic rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, opposition politicians in Uganda face different challenges.<\/p>\n Museveni has been cracking down on his opponents ahead of next year\u2019s elections, as he has in the lead-up to previous polls.<\/p>\n In November last year, veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, who has stood against Museveni in four elections, and his aide, Obeid Lutale, were abducted in Nairobi, Kenya, before being arraigned in a military court in Kampala on treason charges. The pair have since repeatedly been denied bail, despite concerns raised by the United Nations\u2019 human rights officials.<\/p>\n Other opposition figures have also faced crackdowns.<\/p>\n Tens of supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, led by 43-year-old entertainer Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, have been convicted by Uganda\u2019s military courts for various offences.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Uganda, we celebrate and draw strength from your example as we work to build a country where every citizen can realise their grandest dreams regardless of means and background,\u201d Wine wrote on X as he sent his \u201chearty congratulations\u201d to Mamdani. <\/span><\/p>\n Robert Kabushenga, a retired Ugandan media executive who is friendly with the Mamdani family, told AP that Mamdani\u2019s win was \u201ca beacon of hope\u201d for those fighting for change in Uganda, especially the younger generations.<\/p>\n Describing the new mayor-elect as belonging to \u201ca tradition of very honest and clear thinkers who are willing to reimagine \u2026 politics\u201d, Kabushenga said Mamdani\u2019s victory underlined that \u201cwe should allow young people the opportunity to shape, and participate in, politics in a meaningful way\u201d.<\/p>\n Okello Ogwang, an academic who once worked with Mamdani\u2019s father at Kampala\u2019s Makerere University, said his son\u2019s success was an instructive reminder to Uganda \u201cthat we should invest in the youth\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s coming from here,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t invest in our youth, we are wasting our time.\u201d<\/p>\n Anthony Kirabo, a 22-year-old psychology student at Makerere University, said Mamdani\u2019s win \u201cmakes me feel good and proud of my country because it shows that Uganda can produce some good leaders\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing Zohran up there, I feel like I can also make it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Zohran Mamdani\u2019s stunning victory in New York City\u2019s mayoral race was built on a promise of hope and political change, a message that is resonating loudly with the people in Uganda, where he was born. The 34-year-old leftist\u2019s decisive win in the United States\u2019 largest metropolis on Wednesday was celebrated by many in Uganda\u2019s capital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"Joel](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1296709684-1762354612.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
\u2018We celebrate and draw strength\u2019<\/h2>\n
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