List of heads of state of the Gambia

This is a list of the heads of state of The Gambia, from the independence of The Gambia in 1965 to the present day.

From 1965 to 1970 the head of state under the Constitution of 1965 was the queen of the Gambia, Elizabeth II, who was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms. The monarch was represented in the Gambia by a governor-general. The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth under the Constitution of 1970 and the monarch and governor-general were replaced by an executive president.

Monarch (1965–1970)

The succession to the throne was the same as the succession to the British throne.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Reign			Royal House	Prime minister(s)
			Reign start	Reign end	Duration
1	File:Queen Elizabeth II official portrait for 1959 tour (retouched) (3x4 close cropped).jpg	Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)	18 February 1965	24 April 1970	Template:Ayd	Windsor	Jawara

Governor-general

The governor-general was the representative of the monarch in the Gambia and exercised most of the powers of the monarch. The governor-general was appointed for an indefinite term, serving at the pleasure of the monarch. Since the Gambia was granted independence by the Gambia Independence Act 1964, rather than being first established as a semi-autonomous dominion and later promoted to independence as defined by the Statute of Westminster 1931, the governor-general was to be always appointed solely on the advice of the Cabinet of the Gambia without the involvement of the British government, with the sole exception of John Paul, the former colonial governor, who served as governor-general temporarily until he was replaced by Farimang Mamadi Singateh. In the event of a vacancy the chief justice would have served as the officer administering the government.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Monarch	Prime minister(s)
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1	File:No image.png	Sir John Paul (1916–2004)	18 February 1965	9 February 1966	Template:Ayd	Elizabeth II	Jawara
2	File:No image.png	Sir Farimang Singateh (1912–1977)	9 February 1966	24 April 1970	Template:Ayd

Republic (1970–present)

Political parties

  People's Progressive Party (PPP)

  Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC)

  National People's Party (NPP)

Other factions

  Military

  Independent

First Republic (1970–1994)

Under the Constitution of 1970, the first constitution of the Republic of the Gambia, the president replaced the monarch as executive head of state. The president was elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term. In the event of a vacancy the vice-president served as acting president.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| 1	File:Dawda Jawara (1979).jpg	Sir Dawda Jawara (1924–2019)	1972 1977 1982 1987 1992	24 April 1970	22 July 1994 (Deposed in a coup)	Template:Ayd	PPP

Military rule (1994–1996)

Colonel Yahya Jammeh led a coup d'état which overthrew President Jawara and his government, all political parties and Parliament were dissolved.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:black;"| 2	File:Yahya Jammeh (3x4 cropped).jpg	Colonel Yahya Jammeh (born 1965) Chairman of the AFPRC	22 July 1994	6 November 1996	Template:Ayd	Military

Second Republic (1996–present)

Under the current constitution of the Republic of The Gambia, the president is executive head of state. The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. In the event of a vacancy, the vice-president will serve as acting president.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;"| (2)	File:Yahya Jammeh (3x4 cropped).jpg	Yahya Jammeh (born 1965)	1996 2001 2006 2011	6 November 1996	21 January 2017Template:Efn	Template:Ayd	APRC
3	File:Adama Barrow - 2018 (39774084330) (cropped).jpg	Adama Barrow (born 1965)	2016 2021	19 January 2017Template:Efn	Incumbent	Template:Ayd	Coalition 2016 (until 2019)
							NPP

Timeline since 1970

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:150 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = 24/12/2025

Colors =

 id:military value:rgb(0.76,0.69,0.57) legend:Military
 id:ppp      value:rgb(1,0.41,0.71)    legend:People's_Progressive_Party
 id:aprc     value:rgb(0.13,0.42,0.27) legend:Alliance_for_Patriotic_Reorientation_and_Construction
 id:c2016    value:rgb(0.83,0.64,0.08) legend:Coalition_2016
 id:npp      value:rgb(0.25,0.28,0.31) legend:National_People's_Party

 id:gray1  value:gray(0.85)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1970 till:31/12/2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1970 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1970

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170

TextData =

 pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political party:"

BarData =

bar:Jawara
bar:Jammeh
bar:Barrow

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Jawara
 from: 24/04/1970 till: 22/07/1994 color:ppp  text:"Dawda Jawara"
bar:Jammeh
 from: 22/07/1994 till: 06/11/1996 color:military
 from: 06/11/1996 till: 21/01/2017 color:aprc text:"Yahya Jammeh"
bar:Barrow
 from: 19/01/2017 till: 31/12/2019 color:c2016
 from: 31/12/2019 till: $today     color:npp  text:"Adama Barrow"

</timeline>

Standards

• Governor-General's standard
  Governor-General's standard
• Presidential standard
  Presidential standard

See also

• History of the Gambia
• Politics of the Gambia
• List of colonial governors of the Gambia
• Prime Minister of the Gambia

External links

• World Statesmen – The Gambia
• Rulers.org – The Gambia