In 1986, Sallah was one of the founders of the People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS). He was elected as its secretary-general in August 1987. He also became a major contributor to its newspaper, "Foroyaa", which he co-edited with Sidia Jatta. Sallah contested the Serekunda East constituency in the 1987 and 1992 elections for the House of Representatives, but only won around 10% of the vote. Following Yahya Jammeh's coup in 1994, Sallah and other PDOIS leaders adopted a principled stance in response, with Sallah and Jatta both turning down offers to join the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council. Both men were detained in August 1994 for publishing an edition of foroyya despite the ban on political activities. They were put on trial, found guilty, and fined, but resumed publication in November 1994 as a non-partisan newspaper.