Gambian President Barrow Wins Re-election As Opposition Reject Results

Gambian President Barrow Wins Re-election As Opposition Reject Results

The electoral commission said on Sunday that Gambian President Adama Barrow had easily won re-election, while he may face a court challenge from opposition candidates who disputed the results due to unspecified anomalies.

The election was the first in 27 years to be held without disgraced former President Yahya Jammeh, who was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea after refusing to acknowledge loss in 2016 to Barrow.

Jammeh’s dictatorial 22-year leadership over the small West African nation of 2.5 million people, which began in 1994 with a coup, was marked by political assassinations and torture.

Many saw Saturday’s peaceful election as a win for democracy that helped put an end to a tumultuous time.

Gambian President Barrow Wins Re-election As Opposition Reject Results

People who had previously been intimidated by Jammeh’s omnipresent secret police took to the streets of Banjul on Sunday night to celebrate, or drove around in their automobiles blasting horns. Hundreds of people gathered in a park across from the White House to hear Barrow speak.

Gambian President Barrow Wins Re-election

After the results were revealed, Barrow informed the applauding throng, “Democracy has taken its course.” “You chose me as the lucky recipient of your choice. I’ll use every resource at my disposal to make Gambia a better place for everyone.”

For many, Barrow’s first term was a welcome shift from Jammeh’s ruthless rule. The coronavirus outbreak, however, slowed growth and harmed an economy that relies heavily on tourism, as well as peanut and fish exports. find out more

Jammeh tried to urge supporters to vote for an opposition coalition in the run-up to the election by giving telephone remarks that were broadcast to campaign rallies. find out more

However, he was unable to sway Barrow’s support. The president earned roughly 53% of the vote on Saturday, greatly outstripping his closest competitor, political veteran Ousainou Darboe, who received around 28%.

Representatives from all opposition parties signed off on virtually all of the tally sheets read to the electoral commission as the results came in on Sunday.

Darboe and two other candidates, Mama Kandeh and Essa Mbye Faal, declared later in the day that they would not accept the results since they took longer than expected and because polling stations had problems.

They didn’t give any specifics or proof of misconduct.

“We are concerned about the excessive delay in the announcement of results,” they stated in a statement. “At the polling places, our party agents and spokespeople voiced a number of issues.”

The statement didn’t specify what they’d do next, merely that “all options are on the table.”