Barrow files candidacy and promises constitution with term limits
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Kerr Fatou
Gambian President Adama Barrow has filed his candidacy with the electoral commission for the 5 December presidential election. He promises a new constitution limiting presidential terms if his party, the NPP, wins the required majority in the National Assembly, according to Kerr Fatou.
Gambian President Adama Barrow filed his candidacy on Tuesday with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for the 5 December presidential election. He promised a new constitution limiting presidential terms if his party, the National People’s Party (NPP), wins in the National Assembly the majority required to adopt it.
Speaking to journalists, he said he believed in term limits, while also considering that it is Gambians who decide a president’s fate. He argued that such limits are not the only measure of democratic quality, citing the United Kingdom and Germany, democracies with no fixed limit for their heads of government.
For the next five years, Mr Barrow promised to continue his Yiriwa development programme: infrastructure, economic opportunities, agricultural modernisation and institutional reforms. He made peace and stability a priority. He also announced the extension of roads and the electricity network, better access to health care and education, and investment in agricultural productivity, farmers’ access to markets and food security.
Mr Barrow’s candidacy follows that of Ousainou Darboe, candidate in the 5 December presidential election, declared on 9 November. Twenty-five hopefuls were preparing for the vote, according to our article of 2 November.
