PPA Breaks With GFA, Joins UNITE-NUP Alliance Ahead of 2026 Election

By Staff Writer

The Patriotic Progressive Alliance, led by Dr. Ousman Gajigo, has ended its merger with Gambia For All and will join the UNITE-NUP alliance ahead of The Gambia’s December 2026 presidential election, Dr. Gajigo told Kerr Fatou Media.

The decision marks another shift in an opposition landscape that has become increasingly defined by competing alliances seeking to consolidate support before the vote.

Dr. Gajigo said the PPA had initially agreed to merge with GFA because both sides shared the view that opposition forces needed to unite to improve their chances in the election. But as the political field began to coalesce around two major opposition blocs, he said, the PPA concluded that it needed to make its position clear.

The disagreement with GFA, he said, centered not on broader political principles but on how quickly that decision should be made.

“GFA is going through their process to make their decision as to which group they will work with,” Dr. Gajigo said. “An irreconcilable difference emerged as to when that process needs to be concluded. PPA leadership believes that time is now rather than later.”

GFA has yet to announce which political grouping it will support, while the PPA has opted to move ahead with the UNITE-NUP alliance.

Dr. Gajigo said he viewed the alliance as the strongest foundation for an opposition coalition capable of offering voters a credible alternative in December.

“I believe the UNITE-NUP alliance provides a natural core of the group that can provide Gambians with the real change we yearn for,” he said. “This group has the combination of ambition, competence, and new ideas that are central to bringing a new dawn in politics.”

Dr. Gajigo sought to portray the break with GFA as an amicable political separation rather than a bitter falling-out. He praised GFA’s leadership and said the disagreement over timing had not changed his view of the party or those leading it.

“I still have the utmost respect for the leadership of GFA,” he said. “They are individuals of integrity and principles. We happen to disagree with them on the urgency of making our position clear for 2026.”

The decision adds another piece to a rapidly evolving opposition landscape ahead of the presidential election. Parties and political movements have spent recent months negotiating alliances and weighing which candidates or coalitions offer the strongest prospects against President Adama Barrow.

For the PPA, Dr. Gajigo said, the time for those deliberations has run out. Its decision to leave GFA and align with UNITE-NUP reflects a calculation that, with only months remaining before the election, opposition groups must move from negotiations to organizing if they hope to mount an effective challenge in December.