National People's Party | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | NPP |
President | Adama Barrow |
Chairman | Dembo Bojang |
Founder | Adama Barrow |
Founded | 31 December 2019 |
Split from | United Democratic Party |
Political position | Centre |
National Assembly | 22 / 58 |
Website | |
www | |
The National People's Party is a Gambian political party centred around the leadership of the incumbent President of the Gambia, Adama Barrow.
The NPP was founded on 31 December 2019 by Adama Barrow amidst internal turmoil within Coalition 2016. [1] [2] Relations had deteriorated between Barrow and his former party, the United Democratic Party (UDP). In 2019, Barrow dismissed UDP party leader Ousainou Darboe as his Vice President following disagreements. Darboe refused to support Barrow's re-election campaign for the 2021 election, instead launching his own. [3]
Dou Sano, a presidential adviser, told the press that the "National People’s Party is here for all Gambians, it is here to wipe the tears of Gambians by solving the problems of Gambians." [4] Reaction to the creation of the party was varied. Many supporters of Barrow have commented that Barrow legally had every right to found a party and run for-election, whilst others have argued that doing so was a betrayal of the Coalition 2016 agenda. Proponents of the latter view have protested, noting in particular the Barrow pledged to serve no longer than three years. [5]
Barrow ultimately won re-election in 2021. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, the NPP won most seats. It then formed a coalition with the National Reconciliation Party and, controversially, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction.
The NPP was registered with the Independent Electoral Commission on 31 December 2019. Barrow is both the party leader and Secretary General. [3]
Election | Candidate | Votes | % | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Adama Barrow | 457,519 | 53.23% | Elected |
Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Adama Barrow | 143,826 | 29.19% | 18 / 53 | 18 | 1st | Coalition (NPP-NRP-APRC) |
The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for the western part, which is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.
Politics of The Gambia takes place within the framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of The Gambia is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliaments.
The United Democratic Party is a political party in the Gambia, founded in 1996 by 3 political parties and choose the human rights lawyer, freedom fighter, ANM Ousainou Darboe to be the party leader and Secretary General. As a candidate in the presidential election of 18 October 2001, he came second with 32.6% of the popular vote; he took second place again in the 22 September 2006 presidential election with 26.7% of the vote. The 17 January 2002 parliamentary election was boycotted by the party. In the 25 January 2007 parliamentary election, the party won four out of 48 seats.
The National Assembly of the Gambia is the unicameral legislature of the Gambia. The authorisation for the National Assembly lies in Chapter VII of the Constitution of the Gambia. It is composed of 53 members directly elected through first past the post, and a further five members appointed by the President.
Halifa Sallah is a retired Gambian politician and former National Assembly member for Serrekunda Constituency. He currently serves as the secretary-general of the People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS). He served as a spokesman and advisor to President Adama Barrow from during the 2016 presidential election campaign until March 2017.
Ousainou Darboe is a Gambian politician and leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP). He previously served as Vice-President of the Gambia and Minister of Women's Affairs from June 2018 to March 2019, under President Adama Barrow. He also served as President Barrow's Minister of Foreign Affairs from February 2017 to June 2018.
The National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) is a three-party coalition (previously five parties) of Gambian opposition political parties.
Hamat Ngai Kumba Bah is a Gambian politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and Culture in President Adama Barrow's cabinet. He is also the leader of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) and has been a presidential candidate in 1996, 2001 and 2011. He was the National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum from 1997 to 2005.
Presidential elections were held in The Gambia on 1 December 2016. In a surprise result, opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeated long-term incumbent Yahya Jammeh. The election marked the first change of presidency in The Gambia since a military coup in 1994, and the first transfer of power by popular election since independence from the United Kingdom in 1965.
Isatou Touray is a Gambian politician, activist, and social reformer. A noted campaigner against female genital mutilation (FGM), she became the first female Gambian presidential candidate in 2016, before dropping out to endorse Adama Barrow and Coalition 2016. She then served in Barrow's cabinet, as trade minister, and then as health minister. On 15 March 2019, Touray became Vice-President of The Gambia, replacing her predecessor, Ousainou Darboe in a major cabinet reshuffle.
Adama Barrow is a Gambian politician and real estate developer who has served as President of the Gambia since 2017.
Gambia Coalition 2016 was the governing coalition of The Gambia in the late 2010s, consisting of seven Gambian political parties, civil society groups and one independent candidate created to field and support a unity ticket for the opposition in the 2016 presidential election. The coalition selected real estate developer and deputy treasurer of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Adama Barrow as their candidate. Barrow officially left the UDP to allow him to run as an independent candidate, although his candidacy continued to be supported by the UDP through its membership in the coalition.
Amadou Sanneh is a Gambian accountant and politician who was Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs in President Barrow's cabinet from 1 February 2017 to 15 March 2019. A former national treasurer of the United Democratic Party, Sanneh was sentenced to five years imprisonment in December 2013 for his role in supporting an asylum application. He was released by presidential pardon on 30 January 2017.
Following his victory in the presidential election on 1 December 2016, the newly elected President Adama Barrow appointed a new cabinet to succeed the cabinet of Yahya Jammeh, his predecessor. Barrow was formally inaugurated on 19 January 2017 at the embassy of the Gambia in Dakar, Senegal, and was able to return the Gambia on 26 January. He made the bulk of appointments in February 2017, and conducted major reshuffles in June 2018, March 2019 and May 2022.
Omar Amadou Jallow was a Gambian politician who was the Minister of Agriculture in President Adama Barrow's cabinet. Jallow was also the leader of the People's Progressive Party, which held two seats in the National Assembly at the time of his death.
Lamin N. Dibba was a Gambian politician who was the Minister of Agriculture in Adama Barrow's cabinet from 9 July 2018 to 15 March 2019. He previously served as Minister of Lands and Regional Government from 2017 to 2018.
Three Years Jotna was a political advocacy group in the Gambia between 2019 and 2021 that staged protests advocating for the resignation of President Adama Barrow.
Presidential elections were held in the Gambia on 4 December 2021. The result was a victory for incumbent President Adama Barrow of the National People's Party, who received 53% of the vote, defeating five other candidates.
Aji Yam Secka is a Gambian politician who was deputy leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP) and a longtime women leader acting in various capacities. From 1998 to 2001, she was Secretary General of the party's women. She was deputy director of UND from 2011 to 2018. Secka became the head of the party in 2016 when the leader of the party, Ousainou Darboe, was held in detention by the government. Secka was one of the opposition leaders who formed a political alliance that endorsed the candidacy of Adama Barrow who eventually defeated the incumbent President Yahya Jammeh.
Parliamentary elections were held in The Gambia on 9 April 2022 to elect members of the 58-seat National Assembly.