{"id":85532,"date":"2025-09-06T07:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T07:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race"},"modified":"2025-09-06T07:37:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T07:37:58","slug":"kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race","title":{"rendered":"KMC Mayor Talib Bensouda Joins UDP Presidential Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The political landscape in The Gambia is shifting as Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), has officially entered the race to become the United Democratic Party\u2019s (UDP)\u2019s flag bearer for the 2026 presidential election.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Bensouda, who serves as the UDP\u2019s National Organizing Secretary, has submitted his application to the party, making him one of the first candidates to formally seek the UDP ticket. His decision has been met with celebration among his supporters, who have long anticipated the move.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s one of the politicians that represents a new generation of leadership within The Gambia\u2019s largest opposition party.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding, his candidacy is expected to spark a significant internal debate over whether the UDP should continue with its long-serving veteran leader or embrace a younger, more modern figure.<\/p>\n<p>The party\u2019s current leader and Secretary-General, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, has publicly stated his intention to run for the flag bearer position for a sixth time.<\/p>\n<p>A contest between Darboe and Bensouda would be a defining moment for the UDP, testing its unity and signalling the party\u2019s strategy for the upcoming presidential race.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The political landscape in The Gambia is shifting as Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), has officially entered the race to become the United Democratic Party\u2019s (UDP)\u2019s flag bearer for the 2026 presidential election. Bensouda, who serves as the UDP\u2019s National Organizing Secretary, has submitted his application to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-85532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>KMC Mayor Talib Bensouda Joins UDP Presidential Race - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The political landscape in The Gambia is shifting as Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council (K ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"KMC Mayor Talib Bensouda Joins UDP Presidential Race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The political landscape in The Gambia is shifting as Talib Ahmed Bensouda, the Mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council (K ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-06T07:22:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-06T07:37:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1757131546.794336.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"KMC Mayor Talib Bensouda Joins UDP Presidential Race\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-06T07:22:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-06T07:37:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race\"},\"wordCount\":208,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1757131546.794336.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kmc-mayor-talib-bensouda-joins-udp-presidential-race\",\"name\":\"KMC Mayor Talib Bensouda Joins UDP Presidential Race - 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