Wuli East NAM Suwaibou Touray Says High Election Nomination Fees Disenfranchising Many Gambians

By Makutu Manneh

The National Assembly Member for Wuli East, Suwaibou Touray, has criticized The Gambia’s rising election nomination fees, arguing that they are pricing many citizens—particularly young people—out of the political process.

In an interview with Kerr Fatou, Mr. Touray said the steep fees amount to a form of economic disenfranchisement, limiting who can realistically seek public office.

He recalled that lawmakers and activists had once pushed former President Yahya Jammeh to reduce the nomination fee for National Assembly candidates from 50,000 dalasis to 5,000 dalasis. Today, he noted, the fee stands at 150,000 dalasis—a thirtyfold increase from the earlier reduced rate.

Under current rules, candidates who fail to secure at least 25 percent of the vote forfeit the deposit. Mr. Touray said that requirement, combined with the high upfront cost, effectively shuts out aspiring candidates without substantial financial backing.

“Young people in this country will not be able to contest,” he said, noting that the nomination fee is only one part of the financial burden. “D150,000 will be deposited, while your campaign expenses are another finance.”

He questioned how many ordinary Gambians could afford such sums and warned that the system risks narrowing political participation to the wealthy.

Touray also pointed to the one-million-dalasi nomination fee for presidential candidates, describing it as another financial barrier that discourages broader competition.

Calling for comprehensive electoral reform, he accused the governing National People’s Party of resisting changes that would expand participation. He specifically faulted lawmakers from the ruling party for blocking diaspora voting, despite assurances from the Independent Electoral Commission that it possesses the technical capacity to facilitate ballots abroad.

Mr. Touray suggested that political calculations may be driving the impasse. “The NPP believes most of the diaspora are opposed to the government, and empowering them will affect them,” he said. “That is how I see it.”