{"id":95878,"date":"2026-04-13T10:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:56:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:56:45","slug":"udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection","title":{"rendered":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has said a political coalition with the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) remains possible, even after GDC leader Mama Kandeh ruled out any such alliance.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking in an interview, Mr. Sonko said discussions about cooperation between the two parties had not been entirely foreclosed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no marriage between the GDC and UDP, but we had the intention to do a coalition with the GDC. There\u2019s a possibility for us to have a coalition with the GDC,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks come against the backdrop of repeated statements by Mr. Kandeh dismissing the idea of a partnership with the UDP ahead of future elections.Mr. Sonko said the UDP remained open to engagement with other political actors across the country, framing coalition-building as part of a broader strategy to expand its political reach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUDP, we don\u2019t relent; we will go for them because one thing is clear, that we are going for everybody. Even my party leader said the same thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also urged political unity, arguing that cooperation among parties was essential for national progress and electoral success. \u201cLet us all talk to our leaders; let\u2019s come together because the way the country is going, unity is what can give us the results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Sonko further emphasized the importance of leadership and numbers in electoral politics, suggesting that the UDP\u2019s past performance gives it an advantage in any coalition discussions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we are going for a coalition talk, one thing is very important to us, which is the leadership. Election is about numbers; if you go through statistics in the last electoral cycle, you will see that UDP has the majority of votes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that parties interested in coalition arrangements should consider aligning with the UDP, citing its electoral strength, including its performance in recent mayoral elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of all those facts, we feel like if parties are ready for us to have a coalition, it is very simple that the parties come and join UDP,\u201d he said.<\/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. Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has said a political coalition with the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) remains possible, even after GDC leader Mama Kandeh ruled out any such alliance. Speaking in an interview, Mr. Sonko said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","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>UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic ...\" \/>\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\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\" \/>\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=\"2026-04-13T10:30:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T10:56:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.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\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-13T10:30:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-13T10:56:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\",\"name\":\"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-13T10:30:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-13T10:56:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection\"}]},{\"@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":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection - Gambia","description":"Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic ...","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\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection","og_description":"Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-04-13T10:30:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-13T10:56:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.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\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection","datePublished":"2026-04-13T10:30:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:56:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection"},"wordCount":380,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg","keywords":["Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","parties"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection","name":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-13T10:30:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:56:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Sheriffo Bayo Sonko, a transport councillor at the Brikama Area Council and a senior member of the United Democratic ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1776064919.881061.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/udp-official-proposes-coalition-with-gdc-despite-rejection#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UDP Official Proposes Coalition with GDC Despite Rejection"}]},{"@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\/95878","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=95878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95897,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95878\/revisions\/95897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}