{"id":92465,"date":"2025-12-22T06:47:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T06:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections"},"modified":"2025-12-22T07:12:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:12:24","slug":"bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections","title":{"rendered":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), asserted on Thursday that his party holds the most promising political prospects as the country approaches the 2026 presidential elections.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the Dialectic Space podcast with host Ebrima Sonko, Bensouda highlighted the party\u2019s appeal among young Gambians as a key factor shaping its trajectory. \u201cWe believe that we have the biggest chance in politics at the moment for many reasons. One, I believe, for the first time, I think youths resonate with our party; a lot of youths look up to us because they like what they hear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Bensouda added that young Gambians are increasingly aligning with the UMC. \u201cThey believe that we are thinking about their future, and in large, large numbers they are aligning with the UMC, and they are the majority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The UMC leader also stressed that the party is open to strategic partnerships designed to foster positive change, rather than solely to unseat an incumbent government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike, I don\u2019t believe in coalitions just to remove somebody; I believe in coalitions to bring change, to bring positive change, and we are seeing a lot of emerging political parties that are already aligned with our vision and the way we see the Gambia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead to the 2026 elections, Bensouda hinted at significant developments. \u201cSo I think there are a lot of interesting things going to happen in 2026, and this is just the beginning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/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. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), asserted on Thursday that his party holds the most promising political prospects as the country approaches the 2026 presidential elections. Speaking on the Dialectic Space podcast with host Ebrima Sonko, Bensouda highlighted the party\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-92465","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>Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), ass ...\" \/>\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\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), ass ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-22T06:47:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T07:12:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.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\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-22T06:47:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-22T07:12:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\"},\"wordCount\":275,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\",\"name\":\"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-22T06:47:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-22T07:12:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), ass ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections - Gambia","description":"Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), ass ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections","og_description":"Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), ass ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-12-22T06:47:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-22T07:12:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections","datePublished":"2025-12-22T06:47:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-22T07:12:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections"},"wordCount":275,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg","keywords":["Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections","name":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-22T06:47:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-22T07:12:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Talib Ahmed Bensouda, mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the United Movement for Change (UMC), ass ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1766374893.225887.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/bensouda-predicts-strong-prospects-for-umc-ahead-of-2026-elections#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bensouda Predicts Strong Prospects for UMC Ahead of 2026 Elections"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}