Around the world, Coalition governments are formed for various reasons. Sometimes this is done because no one party could form a government on its own – mostly this is where there is a parliamentary democracy. At other times, they are formed in order to oust the government in power and change a leader of a nation.
In countries where dictators or autocrats have entrenched themselves, or are on the way to entrench themselves, Coalitions are formed in order to defeat the incumbent from power. These incumbents make it so hard to change a government through regular elections. As such, on individual basis no party may be able to win elections over an incumbent.
Thus, parties that have completely different ideologies are compelled to come together in order to win elections. Most often than not, however, immediately after winning the elections, rifts begin to appear in the coalition. This is sometimes caused by the leader drifting away from the agreement of the Coalition, or one of the parties become dissatisfied or both. Whichever case it may be, the fragments usually keep widening until it finally falls apart.
Such was the situation in The Gambia when the seven different opposition parties and one independent candidate came together to defenestrate former president Yahya Jammeh. Interestingly, immediately he left the country fragments began to appear. The difference was so huge that they could not even agree on how to run for the National Assembly elections. But that is now water under the bridge. The latest rift is the relieving of the Interior Minister Mai Ahmad Fatty from his ministerial post and redeploying him to the Foreign Service. The first real sign of disintegration. The question is: is the Coalition falling apart?
