By Tabora Bojang
The secretary general of the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism has explained why his party is not taking part in ongoing opposition coalition talks initiated by the Taskforce Mediation Committee.
The taskforce committee led by Professor Yerro Mballow has been engaging opposition parties and movements to produce a single opposition candidate for the December 2026 presidential election.
The taskforce conducted several meetings attended by representatives of UDP, GDC, ADD, NDP, Unite Movement, NDA, PAP, GPAP and APP-SOBEYAA.
However PDOIS has been conspicuously absent in the talks.
But speaking to The Standard yesterday, PDOIS Secretary General Suwaibou Touray who doubles as National Assembly Member for Wuli East explained: “When we held our congress in January 2026, we tasked Halifa Salah and Sidia Jatta to spearhead the establishment of a coalition. And we have been working on that coalition called Team Gambia. And Team Gambia is consulting all opposition political parties, entities, organisations and individuals.”
He said the team is yet to unveil its report.
“The objective eventually is to call for a conference of all these parties to look at how to build this coalition. And each of them will come with a position paper that will be reviewed and discussed at that conference,” Touray said.
He added that they are aware of other “small groupings” that are being formed and having discussions for a coalition but their aim is to bring all those groupings into a bigger group to have a candidate.
Asked to explain the absence of PDOIS in the talks initiated by the taskforce, Touray said his party was not informed about it. “If we are informed, perhaps we will attend. But there was a time when ADD (Alliance for Democracy and Development) wrote to us to attend a meeting but we wrote back to them to say that we have already committed to Team Gambia,” he said.
He clarified that PDOIS may not partake in other coalition talks unless it reaches the end of Team Gambia’s efforts. “If we go and join another meeting while we leave this [Team Gambia] initiative behind, it may create confusion for our supporters. So we just want to stick to Team Gambia. But eventually, Team Gambia will be together with them. And then talks will continue. We will eventually meet somewhere.”
Touray averred that should PDOIS go into any coalition, it will be based on principles and not for convenience. “Such a coalition should come up with a charter and declaration and eventually set up a vetting committee to select a flag-bearer based on integrity and public backing. Sometimes it is not necessarily the person with the highest votes. It should be about integrity and merit. And we need to look at these things with an open mind,” he cautioned.
