The United Democratic Party (abbr. UDP) is a political party in the Gambia, founded in 1996 by 3 political parties banned by the government of Yahya Jammeh (the PPP, NCP and GPP) led by human rights lawyer and freedom fighter Ousainou Darboe.Elections in the Gambia, African Elections Database. It is the largest opposition party in the National Assembly since 2022.
A prominent opposition party to the ruling government of Yahyah Jammeh and the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction party, the UDP ran Darboe as its candidate in every presidential election from 1996 to 2011, with Darboe coming second to Jammeh each time. After Darboe was jailed by the government in April 2016, the UDP selected former UDP deputy treasurer Adama Barrow as its new leader and candidate for the 2016 presidential election. The UDP established Coalition 2016, a coalition of seven opposition parties, and the coalition endorsed Barrow as its candidate. Barrow officially resigned from the UDP to run as an independent candidate endorsed by the coalition. Barrow then won the election in an upset victory. When Jammeh refused to accept the election result, he was forcibly removed from office by a regional military intervention, and after Barrow's inauguration, Darboe was released from prison.
In the lead-up to the 2021 presidential election, Coalition 2016 collapsed, and the party once again ran Darboe as their candidate, who lost the election and received 27.7% of the vote. In the 2022 National Assembly election, the party won 15 of the 53 available seats.
Electoral history Presidential elections Election Party candidate Votes % Result 1996Ousainou Darboe 141,387 35.84% Lost 2001 149,448 32.59% Lost 2006 104,808 26.69% Lost 2011 114,177 17.36% Lost 2016 Adama Barrow 227,708 43.29% Won 2021 Ousainou Darboe 238,253 27.72% Lost
National Assembly elections Election Leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Government 1997 Ousainou Darboe 104,568 33.97% 7 2nd 2002 Election boycotted 7 2007 57,545 21.84% 4 2nd 2012 Election boycotted 4 2017 142,146 37.47% 31 1st 2022 138,176 28.04% 16 2nd
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