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| Barrow, Bojang and Darboe |
The win allows the UDP to control all but one of the seven municipal governments across the country in its quest to consolidate its political power.
The party now controls the presidency (executive) and the National Assembly. As sweeping as UDP's political victories appear, on paper the arithmetic, on aggregate, is not spectacular to write home about because of the under of political parties and independent candidates who contested the parliamentary and municipal elections.
A cursory glance at the results reveal as much as they mask which will, most certainly, occupy the attention of analysts into the foreseeable future
Regarding the third branch, although the process of identifying and, subsequently, appointing the Chief Justice, Supreme Court judges and the staffing of subordinate Courts is controlled by the Executive, it is expected that the judiciary will be free from political interference.
Recent government decision not to renew the contracts of some foreign judges is an encouraging development that suggests the passage of an era in our history when the judiciary was weaponized by the dictatorship, using foreign judges and magistrates to punish political enemies, real and imagined. The decision also signals government commitment to Gambianizing the judiciary.
We join others in congratulating the entire UDP membership and urge the leadership, and particularly he rank and file, to be magnanimous in victory. And to the vanquished, we say be gracious in defeat. Violence has never been a proper response to losing an election and neither is using the law to coerce political opponents after winning a very good idea.
The country is in a state of trauma, characterized by anemic economy, coupled with extremely weak and ineffectual institutions, rendering it ill-prepared to respond to emergencies of any kind. What is needed now, more than ever, is a calm, peaceful and reconciliatory environment to help dampen an emotionally-and politically-charged post-electoral atmosphere that must start with the leadership of all political parties and independent candidates.
When all the campaign paraphernalia have been discarded and reconciliation engagements done with, it will be the moment to pull ourselves together, as a country and not a supporter of a political party, to commence addressing the numerous and now all-too-familiar problems facing us as a country; such as constitutional and electoral law reviews, a properly constituted economic management team, restructuring of the civil service as well as the security services etc. etc. UDP alone cannot do it and neither can any single party. It is time for all parties to pull together - as the only governing option likely to succeed. Going it alone is unwise.
