{"id":91150,"date":"2025-12-01T17:28:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition"},"modified":"2025-12-01T18:54:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:54:41","slug":"pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition","title":{"rendered":"PASTEF Challenges Udp&#8217;S Leadership Role in 2026 Coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>PASTEF The Gambia has pushed back against comments made by political commentator Biran Gai, who argued that the United Democratic Party (UDP) \u201cshould not be expected to surrender the presidential flag-bearer position\u201d in any potential 2026 opposition coalition.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued on Saturday, 29th November 2025, PASTEF\u2019s Public Relations Officer, Mayorro Sidibeh, said Mr. Gai\u2019s position overlooks the political realities of coalition-building in The Gambia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI fully acknowledge that the UDP, as the main opposition party, has every right to present a flag-bearer,\u201d Mr. Sidibeh said. \u201cHowever, basing coalition leadership solely on party size does not reflect the complexities of our political landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PASTEF spokesperson argued that the UDP no longer has a guaranteed claim to lead a coalition, particularly after the National Assembly rejects the 2020 draft constitution, which would have introduced a second-round balloting system. Without a runoff mechanism, he says, it is unrealistic for any party to assume coalition leadership by default.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Sidibeh noted that Gambian political history has shown that no opposition party has ever won the presidency on its own. Victories, he stressed, have always come through broad alliances grounded in consensus rather than hierarchy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor any grand coalition especially one that may include an independent candidate automatic leadership cannot be claimed by any party,\u201d he added. \u201cA transparent primary remains the fairest and most democratic method to select a unifying candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He further urged political actors to recognise that calls for a coalition extend beyond merely removing a sitting government. According to him, genuine reform requires leaders to rise above partisan interests and personal ambitions in favour of national unity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt this crucial moment, the question is not which party leads,\u201d Mr. Sidibeh said, \u201cbut whether our leaders are willing to prioritise the national interest and work together for the future of The Gambia.\u201d<\/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. PASTEF The Gambia has pushed back against comments made by political commentator Biran Gai, who argued that the United Democratic Party (UDP) \u201cshould not be expected to surrender the presidential flag-bearer position\u201d in any potential 2026 opposition coalition. In a statement issued on Saturday, 29th November 2025, PASTEF\u2019s Public Relations Officer, Mayorro [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-91150","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>PASTEF Challenges Udp&#039;S Leadership Role in 2026 Coalition - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PASTEF The Gambia has pushed back against comments made by political commentator Biran Gai, who argued that the Unite ...\" \/>\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\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PASTEF Challenges Udp&#039;S Leadership Role in 2026 Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PASTEF The Gambia has pushed back against comments made by political commentator Biran Gai, who argued that the Unite ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-01T17:28:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T18:54:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1764602268.390079.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"PASTEF Challenges Udp&#8217;S Leadership Role in 2026 Coalition\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T17:28:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-01T18:54:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1764602268.390079.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/pastef-challenges-udps-leadership-role-in-2026-coalition\",\"name\":\"PASTEF Challenges Udp'S Leadership Role in 2026 Coalition - 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