People's Progressive Party (The Gambia)

The party was founded in 1959 as the Protectorate People's Party (PPP) and was later changed to the People's Progressive Party.[8] The party won the 1962 general election, and in October 1963, upon the attainment of self-government, their leader, Dawda Jawara, became Prime Minister of the Gambia.[9] With the republican referendum in 1970, Jawara became the first President of the Gambia.[10]

The 1981 Gambian coup d'état attempt was an attempt to overthrow the incumbent government when the PPP was in power. It was a civilian led coup-attempt with some support from the Gambia Field Force. The death toll is debated, being anywhere from 500 to 1,000 lives lost.[11][12] The coup was put down by Senegalese intervention and as a result, Senegal and the Gambia formed the Senegambia Confederation.[11]

The People's Progressive Party lost political power following the 1994 Gambian coup d'état.[13] The coup was carried out by military officers in the Gambian National Army (GNA).[11] It was a bloodless coup that managed to overthrow Dawda Jawara.[13] The Gambia was ruled militarily until 1996 when Yahya Jammeh was elected as president with the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) as his party.[11] The subsequent National Assembly elections brought even more power to the APRC, winning 33 out of the 45 seats.[11]

The People's Progressive Party was banned by the APRC in all subsequent elections; however, it has joined with other opposition parties to form political coalitions.[11] In 2005, the PPP joined the opposition coalition National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD).[14] Then for the 2016 presidential election, PPP joined the Coalition 2016, where Adama Barrow was declared the coalition's candidate and subsequently won.[15] Omar A. Jallow is the current leader of the People's Progressive Party.[16]

The People's Progressive Party was created by rural populations as a reaction against urban areas exerting control over the political arena post-colonialism.[17]

The People's Progressive Party's website currently states, "The PPP believes that a less pervasive and intrusive government as opposed to the current over-centralized and authoritarian regime is necessary in order to release the creative energies of the Gambian people and to encourage wider social, economic, and political inclusion. Our party intends to reduce the power of government and return to grassroots democracy."[18]

Throughout the People's Progressive Party's period in Gambian national spotlight, there were times of growing discontent with the government.[19] Not only did opposition candidates stem from that discontent, but many opposition parties were created to run against the PPP.[19]