{"id":94157,"date":"2026-02-15T07:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/nup-leader-urges-gambians-to-prioritize-nation-before-vote"},"modified":"2026-02-15T07:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:53:24","slug":"nup-leader-urges-gambians-to-prioritize-nation-before-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/nup-leader-urges-gambians-to-prioritize-nation-before-vote","title":{"rendered":"NUP Leader Urges Gambians to Prioritize Nation before Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>Lamin J. Darboe, leader of the National Unity Party, urged Gambians on Saturday to look beyond political parties and personalities and focus instead on nation building as the country prepares for its Dec. 5 presidential election.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking in an interview on The Brunch, Mr. Darboe said he believed voters could be persuaded to prioritize leadership and national development over partisan loyalties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan we build a nation that every Gambian can be proud of? That is the challenge this country should decide on, especially for the coming presidential polls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe, a lawyer and longtime political activist, acknowledged the role of party politics but said the country\u2019s challenges demanded a broader national outlook. He pointed to his decades-long involvement in public affairs, dating back to 1992, as evidence of his commitment to governance reform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not start the struggle against the government of APRC,\u201d he said. \u201cI started the struggle for good governance against the PPP government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Darboe said his record is documented in essays he has published over the past four decades, urging voters to review his work as they assess his ideas and leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you believe in the progress of your country, you cannot concentrate on partisan affairs,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe in a better Gambia.\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. Lamin J. Darboe, leader of the National Unity Party, urged Gambians on Saturday to look beyond political parties and personalities and focus instead on nation building as the country prepares for its Dec. 5 presidential election. Speaking in an interview on The Brunch, Mr. Darboe said he believed voters could be persuaded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":94156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-94157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","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>NUP Leader Urges Gambians to Prioritize Nation before Vote - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. Lamin J. 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