By Haddy Touray
The Alliance for Democracy and Development (ADD) has endorsed a coalition led by the United Democratic Party (UDP) for The Gambia’s 5 December 2026 presidential election, saying the country’s largest opposition party has the strongest political structure to challenge incumbent President Adama Barrow.
The announcement was made by the ADD Secretary General and party leader, Malick Camara, during an interview on Kerr Fatou’s Politic Kaacha programme.
Mr. Camara said his party had concluded that backing the UDP offered the best opportunity to achieve political change, acknowledging that the ADD lacked the organisational strength to mount a successful presidential bid on its own.
“I understand that I cannot challenge Adama Barrow because I don’t have the muscles to do it, but UDP has made an establishment countrywide, cluster by cluster, ward by ward, constituency by constituency, region by region,” he said.
He said the UDP has built the most extensive political network in the country, with representation in the National Assembly, local councils, four area councils headed by chairpersons and mayoral offices.
According to Mr. Camara, the party’s broad national presence makes it unrealistic to expect the UDP to accept equal voting power with smaller political parties in any coalition arrangement.
He maintained that the ADD’s support for a UDP-led coalition is motivated by the objective of uniting the opposition to increase its chances of defeating President Barrow.
Mr. Camara also dismissed claims that opposition coalition negotiations had collapsed, saying the process had instead evolved into two separate coalition tracks.
He explained that while efforts to establish a single opposition coalition had failed to produce consensus, discussions among political parties were continuing.
According to him, one bloc favours a coalition built around a single independent candidate, while the other supports a coalition led by a political party.
Mr. Camara said the candidate-led bloc comprises the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), the UNITE Party, APP-Sobeyaa and several smaller political movements.
He added that opposition figure Papa Faal had not yet declared which bloc he would join, indicating that he intended to align with whichever group secured majority support.
The party-led coalition, Mr. Camara said, consists of the Alliance for Democracy and Development, the United Democratic Party, the People’s Alliance Party, the People’s Progressive Party and the Gambia Alliance for National Progress.
“So forming a coalition has not collapsed, although what we intended we cannot have that way, but there will be a coalition. There will be a coalition of party-led and candidate-led, respectively. So the intent gave birth to two coalitions,” he said.
Mr. Camara attributed the emergence of the two blocs to a lack of trust among political parties, unresolved differences and competing leadership ambitions.
He said coalition negotiations remain ongoing as the two groupings prepare for the presidential election scheduled for December.
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