APeX has suspended negotiations to form a broad opposition coalition for The Gambia’s December 5 presidential election after political stakeholders failed to agree on whether their proposed consensus candidate should contest as an independent.

The suspension took effect on Wednesday, September 9, following more than 19 months of negotiations involving several opposition parties and political movements.

APeX said provisional agreement had been reached on the draft coalition agreement and the selection of a consensus candidate to lead the proposed CHANGE grand coalition.

However, the parties could not agree on the candidate contesting the election as an independent, a position that APeX said had been provisionally agreed during the negotiations.

With no breakthrough reached within 72 hours of the final scheduled negotiations on September 6, APeX said the talks were suspended to allow the political stakeholders to pursue alternative options.

The organisation said the coalition process could still resume if the two stakeholders involved in the outstanding disagreement reach an agreement.

Under the proposed arrangement, the CHANGE coalition would comprise GFA, Tabax Rewmi, UDP and its alliance partners, including ADD, GANU, GPAP, PPP, CCC and GEP.

APeX also rejected a claim by APP-Sobeyaa that its departure from the negotiations was linked to disagreements over “power-sharing”.

“As the impartial broker, we can reaffirm with absolute certainty that such a claim is entirely inaccurate,” APeX said.

The organisation said the disagreement that led to the suspension was specifically related to the proposed consensus candidate contesting as an independent.

APeX has published the draft Coalition Agreement and proposed flagbearer selection process, saying the documents would allow the public, journalists and researchers to assess the process and understand the issues considered during the negotiations.

The organisation said it would publish a post-project report after the presidential election, focusing on the challenges encountered during the coalition-building process and recommendations for strengthening multiparty democracy.

APeX said it remains available to facilitate the coalition process if the outstanding disagreement is resolved.

It also thanked the political parties and movements that participated in the negotiations, as well as the media and Gambian public for their interest and support.