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For its first participation in the Gambian legislative elections, the National People’s Party of President Adama Barrow, created at the end of 2020, won only 18 seats out of the 53 in the hemicycle.
With our correspondent in Banjul, Milan Berckmans
First observation: only one out of two voters voted. The legislative elections are still struggling to mobilize in The Gambia, and particularly in rural areas. This low turnout is mainly lacking in President Adama Barrow and his party.
After his great success in the presidential election and a second term won with 53% of the vote last December, the Gambian president wanted to obtain a strong majority, but instead he inherited a fragmented parliament. If the presidential party can count on an alliance of four which should give it the support of around thirty deputies, it is still far from an absolute majority.
And yet, to carry out its major reforms, and in particular the revision of the Constitution which should allow the immunity of former presidents to be lifted or the number of terms to be limited, the support of at least 39 of the 53 deputies will be essential.
According to Sait Matty Jaw, researcher in political science, this new configuration augurs other blockages within the hemicycle. For the future majority, it will therefore be necessary to convince the deputies to obtain real progress, and finally to concretize the hopes born following the departure of Yahya Jammeh in 2017.
