{"id":93739,"date":"2026-02-11T16:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T16:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party"},"modified":"2026-02-11T17:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T17:49:13","slug":"mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Bensouda: UMC Set to be Gambia&#8217;S Largest Party"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the Unite Movement for Change (UMC), has expressed confidence that his party will emerge as the largest political force in The Gambia ahead of the December elections.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a UMC meeting in Nema Jola, Bensouda said the party\u2019s rapid growth and nationwide presence place it on course to surpass all others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the pace UMC is moving, before October 5, 2026, we will be the biggest political party in The Gambia,\u201d he said. \u201cWe now have bureaus in every region of the country. Wherever you go, people are identifying themselves as UMC members.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He noted that UMC has consistently drawn large crowds to its meetings, often exceeding turnout recorded by older political parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA party that is only four months old called a meeting and attracted numbers that some long-established parties have never achieved. This shows Gambians are eager for a third option, and that option is the United Movement for Change,\u201d Bensouda said.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the party\u2019s beginnings, he said UMC was launched in November 2025 with fewer than 1,000 members but has since expanded significantly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have never seen a party grow the way UMC has grown,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we announced it on November 5, 2025, we were not more than 1,000 people. Our goal was to build a united party for our country\u2014one that would help change people\u2019s mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bensouda also highlighted the party\u2019s swift rise within the country\u2019s political landscape, noting that although 22 parties are registered nationally, UMC is already ranked fifth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we announced UMC, we had no structures and no established membership\u2014we only had the idea of UMC,\u201d he said. \u201cToday, that idea has become a movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Gambia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor of the Kanifing Municipal Council and leader of the Unite Movement for Change (UMC), has expressed confidence that his party will emerge as the largest political force in The Gambia ahead of the December elections. Speaking at a UMC meeting in Nema Jola, Bensouda said the party\u2019s rapid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-93739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","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>Mayor Bensouda: UMC Set to be Gambia&#039;S Largest Party - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor o ...\" \/>\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\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Bensouda: UMC Set to be Gambia&#039;S Largest Party\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Mayor o ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party\" \/>\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=\"2026-02-11T16:18:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T17:49:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1770831871.412673.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"642\" \/>\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\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mayor Bensouda: UMC Set to be Gambia&#8217;S Largest Party\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T16:18:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T17:49:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party\"},\"wordCount\":312,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1770831871.412673.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party\",\"name\":\"Mayor Bensouda: UMC Set to be Gambia'S Largest Party - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/mayor-bensouda-umc-set-to-be-gambias-largest-party#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/02\/sm_1770831871.412673.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T16:18:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T17:49:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Gambia. 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