The December 5 presidential election is shaping into a unique Gambian contest. Three leading contenders —Ousainu Darboe, Adama Barrow and Talib Ahmed Bensouda are all products of the United Democratic Party (UDP).
Darboe is the founder and presidential candidate of the UDP. Barrow won in 2016 on a Coalition ticket supported by the UDP before breaking away to form the NPP. Bensouda, the charismatic Mayor of Kanifing, cut his political teeth in the UDP before charting his own path.
Critics will call it fragmentation. We call it an opportunity.
For the first time, The Gambia goes to the polls with its dominant political family competing against itself. This is not a clash of alien ideologies. These are men who shared the same political school, recited the same principles of rule of law, human rights and constitutionalism, and fought the same dictatorship.
That common DNA should be the guarantee for peace.
If the three camps share a history, they share a responsibility. None can credibly demonise the other as an existential enemy of the state. None can brand the other as un-Gambian. Their rivalry is political, not tribal, not religious, not sectional. That lowers the temperature for violence.
It also raises the bar for issues.
When candidates come from the same stable, personality cults lose power. Voters will be forced to ask harder questions: Who has the better plan for jobs? Who can fix the cost of living? Who can end land disputes like Sankulay Kunda vs Yerro Belli Kunda? Who can make justice equal for a schoolgirl in Kombo Berending and a minister in Banjul?
This election must be about competence, not nostalgia.
There is a risk, of course. Internal family fights are often the bitterest. The temptation to weaponise past loyalties, to label each other as betrayers, will be high. The UDP machinery must resist vengeance politics. Barrow’s government must resist incumbency abuse. Bensouda’s camp must resist being used as a spoiler.
The security services must be neutral. The IEC must be firm. The media must be fair.
But history is on our side. The Gambia survived 2016 without bloodshed because UDP and its allies chose ballot over bullet. That same spirit must prevail when UDP faces UDP in December.
Let the three sons of the same party prove that democracy in The Gambia has matured — that we can compete fiercely, disagree loudly, and still remain one nation.
On December 5, let Gambians win.