By Fatou Sillah
Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the newly formed Unite Movement for Change, on Friday sought to minimize the significance of early survey results suggesting the party had attracted about 2 percent public support just weeks after its launch.
Speaking in an interview with Skypower Radio and Television Services, Mr. Bensouda said the findings, released by the Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies (CepRass), were based on data collected when the party was barely three weeks old and had not even been formally included in the survey.
“We don’t take that seriously because UMC was barely three weeks old when that came up,” he said. “We actually spoke with the surveyors, and they told us UMC was not considered in their surveys.”
Mr. Bensouda said the party appeared in the results largely because respondents repeatedly volunteered its name, even as many Gambians remained unfamiliar with the movement.
“Even today, some people who support me don’t know the name of the party,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Still, he described the early visibility as encouraging, noting that UMC had outperformed several long-established political parties despite its brief existence.
“What is impressive for us is that only three weeks after our announcement, we came ahead of parties that were established for decades,” he said. “That is quite an impressive showing for three weeks.”
Mr. Bensouda said the party’s priority remains building grassroots structures and engaging voters directly, rather than focusing on early polling numbers.
“We are concentrating on organizing on the ground and connecting meaningfully with Gambians,” he said.
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