By Seedy Jobe
The United Democratic Party (UDP) has taken an unprecedented step in its electoral strategy, selecting its 2026 presidential candidate a full year before the polls, party officials announced this week.
Alagie S. Darboe, the UDP’s Senior Administrative Secretary, highlighted the early selection as a signal of the party’s readiness and strategic planning. Speaking on the political talk show Bitilo, Darboe said, “This is the first time we have selected our candidate a year before the elections. Usually, we select our candidate during an election year, but this time we’ve selected ours before the election year.”
Darboe emphasized that the move reflects a broader commitment to a disciplined and organized campaign. “That demonstrates our readiness and preparedness for the 2026 presidential election. We’ve put our plans in place in a way that we never have before,” he said, adding that the party had developed “concrete plans… that we’ve never had in UDP’s political history.”
The party official also underscored the stakes of the upcoming election, drawing comparisons to the 2016 vote that ended nearly three decades of authoritarian rule. “The way The Gambia is going, if we don’t stand and rescue the country, it will sink,” Darboe said. “This election is more critical than rescuing The Gambia in 2016. Given the state of the country, we shouldn’t joke with it.”
Comments are closed.