Gambia’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Friday suspended the National Convention Party (NCP) with immediate effect from participating in all electoral activities in the country.
According to IEC, the suspension followed the failure of the NCP to hold one unified party congress. Instead it held two different national congresses and unveiled two party leaders.
The IEC noted that the decision to suspend the NCP was derived from section 127 of the Election Act.
NCP was the main opposition party between 1975 and 1994. It was founded on 7 September 1975 when it was first launched by former vice-president Sheriff Mustapha Dibba two weeks after his expulsion from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
NCP initially welcomed the 1994 military coup, led by ex-president Yahya Jammeh but was banned from participating in elections in August 1994.
In another development, the IEC, acting under section 105 of the Elections Act as amended (2015), registered the Gambia Action Party (GAP) on January 17, 2019, as a bona fide political party.
The party leader is Musa Yali Batchilly and the party motto is Mass Development Through Mass Action.
