By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
The national youth President of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), MC Cham Jr has called on opposition parties to form an alliance to contest against the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) in the local government elections.
The GDC youth leader asserted that the only way to prevent the Gambia from NPP’s total dominance is by opposition political parties coming together against President Barrow’s party
“We have to help each other by putting up a tactical alliance among opposition parties so that we can support each other and stop NPP from dominating the local government elections”, he told the Fatu Network.
He added that the local government election is the grassroots, noting that having chairpersons and mayors will be good for the political base of the opposition parties.
MC Cham, who contested and lost in the April National Assembly elections explained that if opposition parties had formed an alliance in April, NPP would not have dominated the current national assembly.
“If there was a tactical approach in the national assembly election, Barrow’s candidates were going to win only in the Upper River Region. He would have only seven MPs, but because all the political parties put up their candidates, the votes were divided and that gave NPP the upper hand to win the majority of the seats”, he uttered.
He exuberantly outlined that it is high time for the opposition parties to roll on such political tactics to prevent the National People’s Party from controlling the municipalities and localities.
“It is high time we come together as opposition parties to have a tactical alliance within ourselves to support each other. That way, we will stop the NPP from dominating the country. Having a one-party state will be very wrong for our democracy”, he emphasised.
Cham, whose party lost every seat they competed for in the April national assembly elections, told The Fatu Network that it is quite feasible for the opposition parties to come together. He said that they should learn from the national assembly election. Cham further amplified that GDC will engage other opposition political parties about a possible alliance against the ruling party.
According to him, political parties and leaders should now look at the country and not their parties.
“We have to do it so that we can save the Gambia from the crossroads that we are. Let us not see our party now, let’s see the Gambia”, he pointed out.
