Adama Barrow re-elected as Gambia’s president — but opposition kicks

President Adama Barrow of the Gambia has secured another term in office after winning the country’s presidential poll held last weekend.

According to the results announced on Sunday by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), Barrow received around 53% of the votes, but with Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party, his nearest rival, polling 28%.

Upon the announcement, Barrow’s supporters started celebrating in the streets, and the re-elected president addressed the entire country in a victory speech in Banjul, the country’s capital.

He called for unity among the country’s political factions for the nation’s progress.

“I call on all Gambians, irrespective of your political divide, to put aside our political and other differences and come together as one people to work towards the development of our country,” Barrow said.

The election was the Gambia’s first presidential poll in decades without Yahya Jammeh, former dictator, on the ballot. Jammeh had gone on exile in Equatorial Guinea after losing the 2016 election and refusing to accept defeat.

The vote is seen as a test for democracy in the country.

Ernest Bai Koroma, head of an election observation mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), appealed to all the candidates “to accept the outcome of the election in good faith”.

Some of the candidates have openly contested the result of the elections. The candidates who refuted the poll’s outcome include Darboe, Mama Kandeh of the Gambia Moral Congress party, and others.

According to the official results, nearly 860,000 Gambians came to vote on Saturday — a turnout of 87% — to choose the county’s leader for the next five years.

Barrow was first elected in 2016 as the candidate of an opposition coalition that ousted the 22-year rule of Jammeh.

After initially agreeing to step down, Jammeh resisted, and a six-week crisis ensued before he was forced into exile.