By: Nyima Sillah
The Secretary-General and leader of the All People’s Party (APP), Ebou Gaye, has called on political parties to work in concert to remove President Adama Barrow come 2026.
“We want to tell political parties that if you want to change the predicament here, we need to come together as one umbrella body to fight the incumbent and to change the dynamics. This is African politics, once you have the resources is always difficult to unseat or win in elections because a lot of the population is poor and if they are poor, they have no choice to choose in isolation of inducement or other electoral malpractices,” Gaye told The Voice in an interview on Wednesday.
He added: “It is always difficult to choose wisely when you are poor because it is the circumstance that dictates what one does, not the reality that dictates one’s choice. So, it is always difficult for an opposition to win outright in Africa without other political parties coming together to give a hand. People are tired and poor but the issue is, they cannot decide on their own.”
According to him, their research has shown that it will be difficult for one single political party to win the incumbent, adding that APP can win elections if they have support from other political parties and political movements.
“Our research was not necessarily scientific. It is a matter of analyzing the past, looking into the future, and evaluating the present that tells us that only a coalition can change this regime. We are open to dialogue. Gambia has to change, a change that we are all yearning for. We have to join hands and work together to change the status quo,” the APP leader explained.
He recalled that the result of the 2016 general electionwas the outcome of a coalition, reiterating that it would be a huge task for one political party to win an election without a coalition.
“We are consulting with other political parties and political movements on how best we can come together but it is premature to disclose the names of those political parties for now. We want to remain committed to them until we have headways to change the status quo,” stated Mr.Gaye.
