By Makutu Manneh
President Adama Barrow said Sunday that efforts by opposition parties to form a united front against him ahead of next year’s presidential election have collapsed, expressing confidence that he will win by an even wider margin than he did in 2021.
Speaking at a rally organized by Team First Lady in Jambur, in the Kombo South district, Mr. Barrow addressed reports that the United Democratic Party had withdrawn from coalition talks with other opposition groups. He compared the breakdown to the end of a marriage between partners of unequal strength.
“The opposition is trying to form a coalition to contest with me in the upcoming presidential election, but news has broken out that the ones with the long ropes and the ones with the short ropes have ended their marriage,” he told supporters. “Where the ones with long ropes cannot fetch water to drink, do you think the ones with short ropes can drink?”
The president said he had predicted months ago that the talks would fail, arguing that every party involved wanted its own candidate to become president, an ambition he said made unity all but impossible with only one office at stake.
Mr. Barrow said he is prepared to face any challenger and pointed to what he described as strongholds of support in the Kombo area, the Upper River Region, and the North Bank Region. He predicted his margin of victory in 2026 would exceed his 2021 result.
He dismissed opposition claims that he was seeking an unconstitutional third term and allegations of irregularities in the ongoing voter registration exercise, saying his government was not preoccupied with responding to such accusations and was instead focused on development projects across the country.
Mr. Barrow said the record of his administration’s work would speak for itself and be recognized by Gambians. He reiterated a pledge to deliver progress the country had gone without for five decades, saying his government’s focus on tangible development, rather than political rhetoric, was what would move The Gambia forward.
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