The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of The Gambia, declared on Sunday that Adama Barrow, the leader of the National People’s Party (NPP), as the winner of the presidential election held on Saturday.
Alieu Momar Njie, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission declared that Barrow amassed 457,519 votes (around 53 per cent of the total votes cast) beating his main challenger Ousainu Darboe of the United Democratic Party (UDP) who collected 238,253 of the votes cast.
The electoral commission stated that Essa Mbye Faal polled 17,206 votes, Abdoulie Jammeh 8252 votes, Mamma Kandeh 105,902 votes, and Halifa Baboucar Sallah got 32,435 votes.
“Having received 457,519 votes, in the election, I hereby declare Adama Barrow, duly elected to serve as president of the Republic of Gambia” Alieu Momar Njie said in a declaration of results statement.
The election was immediately questioned and Darboe and two other candidates, Mama Kandeh and Essa Mbye Faal, stated that they did not intend to accept the result due to problems at the polling stations.
Barrow was first voted Gambian president in 2016 while leading a coalition of seven political parties and some independent candidates, defeating his predecessor Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh has been living in Equatorial Guinea in exile.
Ahead of his re-election, Barrow who had initially said he would not contest after serving for another term, campaigned on the promise to improve agriculture and infrastructural development in the country.