THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
Incumbent president of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, has won the country’s presidential election held on Saturday December 4.
Mr Barrow, who contested the election under the flagship of the National People’s Party (NPP), polled 457, 519 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ousainou Darboe, of the United Democratic Party (UDP).
Mr Darboe garnered 238, 253 votes, according to results released by the electoral commission late on Sunday.
“Having received 457, 519 votes in the election, I hereby declare Adama Barrow duly elected to serve as president of The Gambia,” Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairman, Alieu Momar Njai, said.
Before the full results were announced, three of Barrow’s rivals had rejected partial results.
“At this stage, we reject the results announced so far,” Darboe and two other candidates said in a joint statement earlier. “All actions are on table.”
In 2016, as an independent candidate, a relatively unknown Barrow contested and won the presidential election, defeating long-time dictator, Yahya Jammeh to become the country’s third president.
The election was being closely watched as a test of the democratic transition in The Gambia, where Jammeh ruled for 22 years after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994. He was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 after Barrow.
Barrow will now govern for the next five years.
Adira Kallo
