By Abdoulie John
As the National Assembly elections enters into crucial stage, the
United Democratic Party (UDP) executive decided to hit the campaign trail with a week’s nationwide tour on Sunday.
In a news announcement on Saturday, the party said its leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawyer Ousainou Darboe is leading the tour. It is meant to energise the UDP supporters as well as woo undecided voters to vote for the party’s candidates in next month’s parliamentary elections.
Scheduled for April 6, the elections come at a time when the West African nation closed Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year dictatorship chapter. During the period, the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction had total control over parliament. Instead of serving the interest of their constituents, the elected APRC members became rubberstampers who enacted anything that Yahya Jammeh wanted. Woe betide any ruling party parliamentarian who deserted.
The election of President Adama Barrow heralds a new dawn in everything Gambian. But observers see the upcoming parliamentary elections as a litmust test for the new regime. While Gambian voters have not cast their ballot, leaders of the APRC and Gambia Democratic Congress vow to leave their trail on April 6th.
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