UMC is not a political party according to law

ANALYSIS/COMMENTARY

By Essa Njie

I have watched a video of Mr. Talib Bensouda on Kerr Fatou, where he made the claim that the UMC is a political party, citing section 104 of the Elections Act 2025. This is a wrong interpretation of the said section. I have also seen other media houses reporting today that Mr. Bensouda is being elected “party leader” of UNITE. This is a misconception and ought to be corrected. The media should do better.

Now, let’s be clear here. Section 104 only relates to the principal framework upon which political parties may be established, not what constitutes a political party. To paraphrase this section, political parties may be established to: participate in shaping the political will of the people; disseminate information on political ideas- political, social, and economic issues; and sponsor candidates for public elections. So, this section relates to the purpose for which political parties may be established. The definition of a political party is already captured in the interpretation section of the Act. One must always go back to the interpretation section first before considering an association of Gambians as a political party. So, I am surprised that Mr. Bensouda did not make reference to what constitutes a political party in line with the interpretation section of the Act. Instead, he cited the section that does not define a political party.

Let’s examine this. The interpretation section of the Elections Act 2025 defines what a political party is. In an unequivocal language, the Act says: “a political party means an association of Gambian citizens organized to acquire and exercise political power and registered as such in accordance with this act”. The keyword here is REGISTERED. So, it is very clear from this interpretation section that the Act only recognizes an association of Gambians as a political party when it is registered in accordance with the Act.

Now, the question is, does the Act cater for registration? Yes, it does. Section 106 clearly talks about registration and gives that mandate to the Independent Electoral Commission to register a political party. Is Mr. Bensouda interpreting the wording, “the commission shall, on a written application, register a political party…”, considering UMC as a party even before registration? This will be a wrong interpretation because the Act is very clear in terms of what constitutes a political party in the first place, which must be registered in accordance with the Act itself. So, as it stands, the UMC is not a political party because it is not registered with the IEC as demanded by the Act under section 106. Once it is registered with the IEC, then it becomes a political party. It is for this reason that Joe Colley’s claim of unregistered political groups violating the Elections Act does not apply to UMC because it is not a registered political party.

Mr. Bensouda also claimed that there is a difference between a party and a registered political party. There is nowhere in the Act where a political party is being differentiated from a registered political party.

Now, where I agree with Mr. Bensouda is that a political group that is not registered with the IEC cannot sponsor a candidate for election; the person can only contest as an independent candidate. Also, it is okay to refer to UNITE as a political movement or group or even association, but not a political party in line with the law.