Gambia legislative election results are in, and the scene is set

President Adama Barrow was re-elected in December 2021 and now legislative elections have made his National People’s Party (NPP) the largest parliamentary grouping - though one without a parliamentary majority. These are significant moments. Not least because the Gambia has completed its first post-Yahya Jammeh political cycle.

Significance – Seats, power, process 

Legislative elections took place on 9 April, and results were announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on 10 April. President Adama Barrow’s National People’s Party (NPP) did not win a majority. But it is the largest parliamentary party, having won 18 seats, and is set to gain another five by presidential appointment. This includes the speaker of the house, and if the governing party can maintain the support of MPs from the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation (APRC)[1] and the National Reconciliation Party (NRP)[2].

Out of the total 58 seats, another six from the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation (APRC) and the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) may well vote with the ruling party because of pre-election alliances and the presence of their members in the cabinet. This would give the Adama Barrow administration 50% of National Assembly members. It is an advancement on their pre-election position. However, the movement is not so far as to remove the old vulnerabilities entirely. Particularly when it comes to key, and controversial, debates around constitutional reform and the treatment of Yahya Jammeh era human rights abuses and/or corruption. Opponents from the United Democratic Party (UDP) and among the independents[3] have sufficient numbers to constrain NPP policy space.

 Meanwhile, an important bar has been passed. These legislative elections and the preceding December 2021 presidential contest were the first national polls to take place in the country without the dictatorial former president Yahya Jammeh in office since 1996. Orderly and peaceable political competition is an enabling factor for domestic and international business decision making. This includes foreign investors and returnee Diaspora that may have paused or slowed activities under a ‘wait and see’ posture. Two aspects take off some of the shine – low voter turn out, and that of the 53 elected MPs only 3 are women.

Outlook – Busy policy in tray

In some respects, this is the strongest that President Adama Barrow has been since the end of the 2016-2018 coalition that originally brought him to power. The success is caveated by the lack of a simple majority and the political complexity of certain principal issues ahead e.g., (a) implementation of Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) recommendations to prosecute those associated with 1994-2017 abuses, (b) addressing strains in Senegambian diplomatic relations. In addition to these items, inflation[4], climate change adaptation programmes, progressing infrastructure development plans, and delivering a promised financial inclusion strategy should be high up on the administration’s to do list.
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[1] With whom there was an electoral alliance

[2] Whose founder sits in cabinet

[3] This includes former APRC members who broke with their alma mater over the alliance with Adama Barrow’s NPP.

[4] See: Cost of living: inflation and political risk in West Africa

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