Gambia: Ousainou Darboe to run in the 5 December presidential election
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Le Soleil
United Democratic Party leader Ousainou Darboe, 78, filed his candidacy on Monday for the Gambian presidential election of 5 December 2026, his sixth attempt against incumbent President Adama Barrow. He handed the Independent Electoral Commission the 5,000 nomination signatures and a deposit of one million dalasis, according to Le Soleil.
The leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Ousainou Darboe, 78, filed his candidacy on Monday for the Gambian presidential election of 5 December 2026 with the Independent Electoral Commission, the Senegalese daily Le Soleil reported. He is seeking the highest office for the sixth time, against incumbent President Adama Barrow.
Accompanied by thousands of supporters dressed in yellow, his party's colour, the lawyer handed his documents to the commission's chairman, Joseph Colley: proof of citizenship and tax compliance, a declaration of assets, school documents, a deposit of one million dalasis and the 5,000 nomination signatures required. He presented this candidacy as his last attempt to win power, promising to fight corruption and revive the economy, and linked young people's perilous departures for Europe to shortcomings in employment policies.
Darboe failed in the presidential elections of 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2021. Imprisoned under Yahya Jammeh's regime, he supported Adama Barrow in 2016 before becoming his foreign minister and then his vice-president, until their political relations broke down in 2019.
The ruling National People's Party secured the support of Mamma Kandeh's Gambia Democratic Congress and of the lawyer Essa Faal. The electoral commission has registered 1,146,474 voters and 27 aspirants for this vote.
