By Fatou Sillah
MC Cham Jnr., a member of the Unite Movement for Change and Business Councillor at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), has expressed confidence that the Unite Movement can defeat President Adama Barrow in the next election, whether or not the opposition forms a coalition.
Speaking in an interview with Nfally Fadera on the Bitilo Podcast, Cham said a coalition is not a prerequisite for victory, although the movement remains open to cooperation.
“I believe that with or without a coalition, the Unite Party can defeat President Adama Barrow,” he said.
Cham dismissed the argument that only a united opposition can unseat the incumbent, describing it as a narrative being promoted by the ruling National People’s Party (NPP).
“The NPP is making people believe that the opposition is not united and that without a coalition they cannot remove Barrow from power. I don’t believe that,” he said.
He cautioned that forming a coalition alone does not guarantee success, stressing the importance of having a credible and electable candidate. “Even if you form a coalition, if you don’t have a winning candidate—because the candidate is central to the coalition—what happened in 2016 will not happen again simply for the sake of removing Jammeh,” he said.
Cham further argued that a significant portion of the electorate is not aligned with any political party, which makes candidate appeal critical.
“About 57 percent of Gambians do not belong to any political party. If all parties come together to form a coalition without a winning candidate, how are you going to win? We all know who the winning candidate in this country is; it is not a secret,” he said.
Commenting on the opposition landscape, the KMC councillor said the United Democratic Party (UDP) remains the largest opposition party largely in name, adding that its actual strength will be tested in the 2026 elections.
“The UDP is the biggest opposition party on paper, but that will be determined after the 2026 elections. The party is not growing,” he said.