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The outgoing President of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, was officially declared the winner of the presidential election by the Election Commission on Sunday. Even before the final proclamation, his detractors stated that he opposed these results and reserved “all means of action”.
outgoing Adama Barrow was officially declared the winner of the presidential election in The Gambia, Sunday 5 December, by the Election Commission. The day after almost all votes were counted, he came out on top, demanding a crucial vote for a young democracy. Get over your dictatorial past,
But their opponents have said they dispute these results even before the final announcement, and reserve “all means of action”.
Adama Barrow, whose presidency five years earlier had ended a more than twenty-year dictatorship, was clearly ahead of his main rival, Osenou Darbo, by nearly 50 or more constituencies (out of 53). , whose commission was informed of the election results late Sunday afternoon.
The election, which took place on Saturday, is played in a single round.
The Adama Barrow Camp started celebrating in the streets of Banjul.
>> to read – Presidential election in Gambia, hope for justice for victims of Yahya Jammeh
“Accepting in good faith the outcome of this election”
“At this stage we reject the results announced so far by the Commission”, Osenou Darbo told reporters along with two others from the six contestants.
“All means of action are on the table,” he said, calling on “all Gambians to remain calm and peaceful” while the investigation is carried out. He said the representatives of these candidates, who were present during the counting drive, noted “several problems”.
Gambian Crowd gathered at polling stations on Saturday, and, by means of ballot, voted with a ball introduced through a pipe into one of the boxes containing each candidate’s color and effigy, a process established under the colonization due to widespread illiteracy.
Nearly a million Gambians from a population of two million were called to choose from six candidates, all male, who would lead the smallest country in mainland Africa, one of the poorest, for five years. World. World.
The election began as a duel between the current Barrow and the historical rival Darbo.
Five years after the end of the dictatorship, democratic consolidation is one of the challenges of the election. the fate of Former dictator Yahya Jammeh And the economic crisis is others.
The international community will be watchful of the acceptance by the losers of the results drawn up by the commission, or the election by the losers, a senior international diplomat said, referring to the “moment capital”.
The Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a key player in the post-2015 election crisis and the forced departure of dictator Jammeh, said in a press release, “Asking all candidates to accept the outcome of this election in good faith There is neither a winner nor a loser, but only one winner, the Gambian people”.
Five years ago, Adama Barrow, now a 56-year-old former real estate developer and then virtually unknown, beat the odds and defeated the dictator Jammeh. In a rule of more than twenty years characterized by a multitude of atrocities committed by the state and his agents: murders, forced disappearances, rapes, acts of torture…
Economic Crisis
Yahya Jammeh, who refused to accept his defeat, was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea under pressure from West African military intervention.
The 2021 presidential election is the first without him since 1996.
Adama Barrow calls for a return to independence, the construction of roads and markets, and the pacification of relations with the international community.
Osenou Darbo, 73, a lawyer who ran four times behind Yahya Jammeh in the presidential election, accused Mr Barrow of failing in all his commitments to stay in power.
Adama Barrow reneged on his original promise to remain in power for only three years. He has downplayed his previous commitments to nab those responsible for the crimes of the Jammeh years.
On the contrary, his newly formed party has aligned with the former autocrat.
The next president will have to decide whether to follow the recommendations of the impeached commission to investigate the Jammeh period, which called for bringing those responsible for crimes committed during that time to justice.
Gambians interviewed by AFP expressed other concerns.
About half of Gambians live below the poverty line. The country has been badly affected by Kovid-19. In addition to agriculture, the country, with its beaches on the Atlantic, lived on tourism, the flow of which has dried up. The Gambians suffer from unemployment, rising rice, sugar or oil prices, and lack of access to health care.
AFP. with