The PPP (People's Progressive Party) provided Gambia's government from 1962 until 1994, during which time the country was never a single-party state. The PPP was strongly backed by traditional rulers, especially in the Mandinka areas. The main opposition party, the NCP, was also Mandinka-led, but dependent on minority parties for support.
In 1994, however, President Jawara, leader of the PPP since 1962, was ousted in a coup led by members of the military. Sir Dawda Jawara, who had secured a fourth term of office in the 1992 presidential elections, left the country aboard a US warship. The coup's leaders claimed that it had been initiated in a bid to end corruption and pledged to preserve democracy. A new government was swiftly announced, in which several portfolios went to civil servants who had served in the former Jawara administration. The coup drew no active response from the potentially influential Senegal or Nigeria.
