The Gambia For All (GFA) party has issued a sharp warning that President Adama Barrow’s pursuit of a third term risks reversing the democratic gains of 2016 and returning the country to the authoritarian practices associated with former leader Yahya Jammeh.
In a statement released as a member of the GFC/UDP-led Alliance, GFA recalled the tense months leading to the December 2016 election, when Jammeh threatened opponents and detained major opposition figures at Mile 2 Prison while vowing to rule “for a million years.” After Barrow’s victory forced Jammeh into exile, the new president was sworn in from Senegal amid a political crisis. Ten years later, GFA argues, “no lessons have been learned.”
The party contends that Barrow, originally elected as a consensus transitional candidate committed to good-governance reforms, has instead adopted “political demagoguery,” including veiled threats and heavy-handed use of the security apparatus to pursue “unconstitutional objectives.” It accuses him of surrounding himself with “dangerous and desperate sycophants” motivated primarily by personal financial interests rather than national development.
GFA highlights the failure to deliver a new constitution. Despite widespread public demand after the Jammeh era, successive drafts—including a 2020 version that would have imposed term limits and counted Barrow’s first term—were rejected by lawmakers. The administration continues to rely on the 1997 constitution, which contains no presidential term limits, and Barrow and his allies now cite it to justify his eligibility for the December 5, 2026, election. The party calls this reliance “quite an irony.”
The statement also points to economic decline, unresolved corruption, and the opaque handling of assets confiscated from Jammeh. GFA notes that neither the president nor his officials have adequately explained the sale and management of those assets, calling the situation “truly bizarre.” On infrastructure, it questions whether poorly constructed roads, some linked to procurement controversies and audit concerns, constitute a meaningful legacy.
Urging Gambians to “put country before self,” GFA and its alliance partners called for a nationwide mobilization to defeat Barrow. “An emphatic NO to Adama Barrow’s bid for a third term must be the slogan on every campaign poster,” the statement declared, insisting he must be stopped at the polls.
Under the current constitution, Barrow is eligible to seek re-election. His supporters have defended the bid as legal and pointed to gains in infrastructure, electricity, and education, framing the election as a choice between continuity and uncertainty.
Opposition figures, including UDP leader Ousainou Darboe, continue to criticize the stalled constitutional process and argue that the president has obstructed reforms that would have limited his tenure.
