In a Standard exclusive, the United Democratic Party (UDP) leader, Lawyer admonished: “People should stop insulting the UDP. I will leave everybody to nurse the idea that we cannot have a candidate as strong as me in the next elections. I think it is an insult to the UDP, an insult to Gambians to say a party as big as UDP cannot have a viable candidate, that only Ousainou Darboe is the viable candidate. I think people should disabuse their minds of that and stop insulting the Gambian people and UDP. Must we declare who the candidate is now? It is a fallacy to think that the UDP does not have and cannot produce a [strong] candidate. That should stop. It is you people [journalists] who are shrouding it in mystery.”
Pressed to name his likely successor, the veteran politician who has contested and lost four elections against APRC’s Yahya Jammeh was less than forthcoming, retorting: “The organ that selects the candidate is there, so I cannot say who is going to be the candidate.”
Asked to give a yes or no answer to the question whether his party will be the victors or vanquished in the next elections, he replied: “We do not believe in victors and vanquished in elections because it is not a war. We do not think so, and we do not hope so. If what is happening in the country is anything to go by, APRC is already a defeated party. People should not vote for the APRC because they know what has befallen their sources of livelihood. The farming community is in a serious predicament. This year they returned their produce to them. There is starvation in the country so nobody in his right mind will vote for the APRC. We should all be campaigning against APRC. How the UDP fares in the next election depends on how people decide with all that is happening in this country.”
By Sainey Darboe
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