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The smallest country in West Africa holds elections this Saturday for the first time after the fall of Yahya Jammeh, the author of a military coup in 1994 and constitutional president since 1996. The current head of state, Adama Barrow, is seeking a second term. along with five other candidates.
This weekend, The Gambia will close one of its longest political cycles after general elections are held on Saturday without the presence, after 27 years, of Yahya Jammeh, who was in power from 1994 to 2017.
Jammeh came to power in a coup in July 1994, overthrowing the democratic government of Dawda Jawara, who had to go into exile in Senegal. This established a military dictatorship calling itself the Council of the Provisional Government of the Armed Forces.
Two years later, through a constitutional reform, he legitimized the regime and was elected president. He was successively reelected until 2017, under suspicions of intimidation and fraud in all the elections, held in 2001, 2006 and 2011.
Adama Barrow was in charge of defeating him in the 2017 vote with 45.5% against 36.7 of the votes, under the promise of constituting a short three-year cycle as a transition, something that he failed to comply with. The current president of The Gambia is the favorite to win at the polls and start a second term.
More than 960,000 Gambians are empowered to elect rulers for the next five years through a curious system of voting with marbles in which six candidates accepted by the Independent Electoral Commission compete, which rejected another 15 for not meeting the conditions stipulated by the body. .
In addition to Barrow, from the National People’s Party (NPP), stand out the historic opponent Ousainou Darboe, 73 years old and a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), and Mama Nadeh, 56 years old and from the Democratic Congress of the Gambia, Jammeh’s favorite from his exile in Equatorial Guinea.
These elections will be monitored by the European Union, which sent an observer mission, the first in the Gambia for a presidential election. There will be 70 observers and analysts. Also the Commonwealth of National (Commonwealth), of which the small African country is a member, transferred its staff to oversee.
The Barrow Government, in the shadow of the military
The current head of state came to power with a grand opposition coalition made up of eight parties led by Darboe. However, with him in jail for participating in protests, it was Barrow who took the place, promising to resign after three years and call an election.
However, he decided to stay for five years and run for reelection. This was the last disagreement between Barrow and Darboe, of strained relationship by other disagreements. The UDP, the coalition’s base party, has the largest number of seats in Parliament (31/58).
After the withdrawal of support from Darboe, Barrow decided to create his own political bloc: the NPP, where he is the basis to stand in the current elections after promising in the campaign to build 1,000 kilometers of road, end the importation of rice, improve access to electricity and employing young people by building factories.
Leaks of an alleged alliance to favor Jammeh
The ghost of the military haunts the Gambia after the controversial alliance that was made last September between the NPP and the Patriotic Alliance for Reorientation and Construction, Jammeh’s former party, with the aim of strengthening Barrow’s presidential possibilities.
The Jammeh era was marked by serious human rights violations and this agreement led to speculation that justice will not be served for these crimes. The decision was poorly received by activists and victims.
A leaked memorandum indicated that, in the event of re-election, Barrow would facilitate an amnesty for Jammeh, who could return to the Gambia, later the document was denied by the party’s spokesman.
The dictator spoke out against this alliance publicly and reaffirmed his support for Kandeh, who for his part promised to send 4,000 young people to study in Europe and build universities.
Throughout the campaign, Darboe insisted on his commitment to prosecute Jammeh for his crimes. On his platform he also assured that he will promote free university education and work spaces for women to have paid employment.
In 2018, the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission was founded, a body in charge of investigating the abuses that occurred during the Jammeh regime, such as forced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions of students, activists, opponents and officials. .
With EFE and Reuters
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