{"id":92781,"date":"2025-12-30T11:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition"},"modified":"2025-12-30T13:04:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T13:04:25","slug":"ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition","title":{"rendered":"Ceesay Believes UDP can Win Without Coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Kebba Ceesay, a former senior member of the Citizens Alliance and now a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has said the UDP has the strength to defeat President Adama Barrow without forming a coalition, but maintains that a united opposition remains the preferred path.<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with Eye Africa, Ceesay said the UDP is electorally capable of winning on its own but believes broader political unity would better serve the national interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cUDP can win against Barrow without the coalition, but UDP does not want that; UDP wants everyone to come together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ceesay cautioned that coalition-building is a delicate and demanding process that should not be approached lightly, citing lessons from the 2016 political transition. \u201cIf you want to bring all the parties together, there is a way to do it. Coalition is not child\u2019s play, and building a coalition is difficult. We have all seen what happened in 2016,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

He added that those currently spearheading coalition discussions should critically review their approach and address shortcomings from past efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that the ones who organized the coalition talks, there are many things that are lacking behind; they have to go back to the drawing board and look at the errors they made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ceesay also dismissed the notion of labeling candidates as \u201cwinnable\u201d or \u201cnon-winnable,\u201d arguing that the UDP\u2019s position as the country\u2019s largest opposition party naturally places it in a leadership role within any coalition arrangement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no winnable candidate and non-winnable candidate. What I can say is that UDP is the biggest opposition party in the country. Wherever you go in the world today, the biggest opposition party always leads coalitions, and other parties join,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the formation of the Citizens Alliance, Ceesay said the party emerged out of dissatisfaction with President Barrow\u2019s style of governance and growing concerns about corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizens Alliance was created because we do not agree with the ruling party; we do not agree with the way they are governing our country. We believe that the way he is governing the country is not the right way; there is too much corruption in the country, many institutions are affected, and we are very concerned. Gambians, this is the only country we have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He further expressed disappointment over the Citizens Alliance\u2019s decision to align with President Barrow, describing the move as a departure from the party\u2019s founding principles and original vision.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Kebba Ceesay, a former senior member of the Citizens Alliance and now a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has said the UDP has the strength to defeat President Adama Barrow without forming a coalition, but maintains that a united opposition remains the preferred path. Speaking in an interview with Eye […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-92781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nCeesay Believes UDP can Win Without Coalition - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kebba Ceesay, a former senior member of the Citizens Alliance and now a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), ...\" \/>\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\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ceesay Believes UDP can Win Without Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kebba Ceesay, a former senior member of the Citizens Alliance and now a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-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=\"2025-12-30T11:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-30T13:04:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1767086291.172953.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=\"3 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\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ceesay Believes UDP can Win Without Coalition\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-30T11:19:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-30T13:04:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/sm_1767086291.172953.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ceesay-believes-udp-can-win-without-coalition\",\"name\":\"Ceesay Believes UDP can Win Without Coalition - 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