{"id":91192,"date":"2025-12-02T08:08:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support"},"modified":"2025-12-02T08:32:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:32:33","slug":"umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support","title":{"rendered":"UMC Surpasses Signature Requirement Citing Public Support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Unite Movement for Change (UMC), the emerging political organization led by Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, said it has collected more than 30,000 signatures in five days\u2014far exceeding the 10,000 required to register as a political party in The Gambia.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Kemo Bojang, the party\u2019s spokesperson, framed the rapid surge as a sign of mounting public confidence in the movement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHistory has been made, and thank you, Gambia!\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cIn just five days, we have been able to amass over triple the number of ten thousand signatures needed to register a political party.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bojang said the response reflects a growing appetite for political renewal, arguing that Gambians are rallying around calls for unity, accountability, and institutional reform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must UNITE for our country, because the future of our nation depends on the choices we make today,\u201d he said. He added that the movement aims to strengthen public institutions, support communities, and promote equality.<\/p>\n<p>The UMC\u2019s swift progress has drawn scrutiny from some critics, who question the speed at which the signatures were gathered. Bojang dismissed those concerns, insisting the process was \u201cclear, transparent, and driven by purpose and not by noise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Bojang, the party initiated its registration with the Independent Electoral Commission on November 7. The IEC responded on Nov. 17, and the party\u2019s organizing committee met on Nov. 20 before deploying coordinators on Nov. 24. The signature drive was completed on Nov. 28.<\/p>\n<p>He credited the rapid mobilization to what he described as disciplined coordination and broad public enthusiasm. \u201cThank you, Gambia,\u201d he said. \u201cWe believe in our mission, and so do you. Your dedication and trust continue to push us forward. This is only the beginning, and together, we will achieve even greater things.\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. The Unite Movement for Change (UMC), the emerging political organization led by Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, said it has collected more than 30,000 signatures in five days\u2014far exceeding the 10,000 required to register as a political party in The Gambia. Kemo Bojang, the party\u2019s spokesperson, framed the rapid surge as a sign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":91191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-91192","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>UMC Surpasses Signature Requirement Citing Public Support - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Unite Movement for Change (UMC), the emerging political organization led by Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, said it h ...\" \/>\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\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UMC Surpasses Signature Requirement Citing Public Support\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Unite Movement for Change (UMC), the emerging political organization led by Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, said it h ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-02T08:08:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-02T08:32:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1764651715.049222.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\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UMC Surpasses Signature Requirement Citing Public Support\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-02T08:08:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-02T08:32:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support\"},\"wordCount\":307,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1764651715.049222.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/umc-surpasses-signature-requirement-citing-public-support\",\"name\":\"UMC Surpasses Signature Requirement Citing Public Support - 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