APeX Announces Conclusion of Negotiations Brokering Mandate

Thursday 10 September 2026

After more than nineteen months of sustained engagement, consultation and dialogue among the respective political stakeholders, we hereby announce the conclusion of our facilitation mandate brokering the negotiations for the formation of a broad opposition coalition for The Gambia’s upcoming presidential elections scheduled for 5 December 2026.

With only a month to IEC nominations, and Sunday 6 September 2026 being the last day of scheduled negotiations, provisional agreement was reached on all aspects of the draft coalition Agreement as well as the consensus candidate to be the CHANGE grand coalition flagbearer. However, the absence of agreement for the already agreed flagbearer to run as an independent candidate in line with the provisionally agreed position, means that it is not possible for the negotiating parties to proceed on this occasion.

In light of the above, and in the absence of a breakthrough over the course the last 72 hours, it has been mutually agreed for the CHANGE coalition negotiations to be suspended effective Wednesday 9 September 2026, giving each political stakeholder the opportunity to pursue its desired alternative path.

Since, the disagreement over which the discussions were suspended is limited to the issue for the already agreed consensus coalition candidate to lead under an independent ticket, should the two political stakeholders to the singular disagreement manage to resolve on an agreed position, then arrangements to launch the CHANGE grand coalition will proceed, involving GFA – registered political party, Tabax Rewmi – political movement, UDP – registered political party, and its alliance partners: ADD – registered political party, GANU – registered political party, GPAP – registered political party, PPP – registered political party, CCC – political movement, and GEP – political movement.

APeX stands willing and ready to render its voluntary services once again as and when required.

Meanwhile, the CHANGE coalition discussions stand suspended.

We extend our sincere appreciation to all political stakeholders that voluntarily agreed to work with us over the past nineteen months: APP Sobeyaa, GFA, NUP, PPA, Tabax Rewmi, UDP and UMC (now UNITE). Although some opted to chart a different path prior to the conclusion of negotiations, we fully recognise and pay tribute to all seven for their patriotic commitment, openness to dialogue, professionalism, and dedication to the national interest.

Further to the above, for the sake of accuracy, we believe that as the impartial broker, we have an obligation to the public, to reiterate that, contrary to APP Sobeyaa’s inaccurate claim in their letter circulated online, dated 5 September 2026 that their departure from these negotiations was due to a disagreement over “power-sharing”, we can reaffirm with absolutely certainty that, such claim is entirely inaccurate.

As the project was a public interest cause, in the spirit of transparency and public disclosure, the draft Coalition Agreement and the proposed flagbearer selection process developed during the negotiations are now published on our website at https://gamapex.org/apex-publications/ . These materials are being published to facilitate informed public discussion and enable the public, journalists, and researchers to better understand the rigorous process that was undertaken. By this publication, we also invite the public to appreciate the extraordinary effort which everyone involved, has invested to ensure that the grand opposition coalition which the Gambian public demanded comes to fruition.

We will also be publishing our post-project report in due course, but after the presidential elections. This report will address all aspects of the project and contemporary coalition-building in The Gambia, particularly the challenges and our recommendations for how these could be reasonably overcome in future. Our post-project report will be forward-looking, and its broad focus will be the enhancement of multiparty democracy in The Gambia.

We also wish to put on record that, although we brokered coalition-building negotiations with the objective of strengthening our beloved country’s multiparty democracy, APeX did not emerge purposely for coalition-building; APeX is also not a partisan or political organisation. We will continue to operate as a public interest organisation committed to causes that advance broader public interests.

We hereby extend our special thanks and appreciation to the Gambia media fraternity, upon whom we consistently relied on to communicate to the public. We also thank the Gambian people for their trust, patience, interest, and support throughout.

Signed for APeX

Dr. Jaye Krubally, APeX Chairperson | Mr. Demba Ali Jawo, APeX Outreach Lead