Gambians have voted in the first presidential election since Jammeh Politics News

Saturday’s vote will be seen closely as a testament to the country’s democratic transition that Jammeh has ruled for 22 years.

Gambians were due to go to the polls on Saturday in the first presidential election in a small West African nation since former dictator Yahya Jammeh fled into exile.

The vote will be seen closely as a testament to the country’s democratic transition, where Jammeh ruled for 22 years in 1994 after seizing power in a bloodless coup.

Former autocrat had to be exiled to Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 after Adama Barrow, then an unknown relative, was defeated at the polls.

President Barrow, 56, is running for re-election and faces five other candidates.

Veteran politician Ousainou Darboe is considered the main opposition candidate.

He is a 73-year-old lawyer who has replaced Jammeh’s opponents and has run for president several times.

He also served as foreign minister and then vice president in Barrow, before stepping down in 2019.

In a poor nation of more than two million people, many voters hope to improve their standard of living.

Widespread poverty

The Gambia, a stretch of land about 480 kilometers (300 miles) long, surrounded by Senegal, is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Half of the population lives on less than $ 1.90 a day, according to the World Bank.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also been hit hard by the tourism-dependent economy in the former British colony.

Barrow is working on a continuity card, stating that he has stepped up infrastructure projects and civil liberties under his responsibility.

Voting will open at 08:00 in Gambia and close at 17:00.

Each candidate has his or her own ballot paper in the Gambian polls, and voters choose the politician they prefer by throwing a marble inside a box.

The unusual voting method is a response to the low literacy rates in the country.

The initial results of the presidential election could be announced on Sunday.

Jammeh’s political shadow

Questions about what Jammeh is up to in politics, and whether he can return from exile, have been the main issues facing the election.

The 56-year-old former dictator also wanted to influence the vote, calling for a rally of supporters during the campaign.

Jammeh maintains significant political support in the Gambia.

Another political camp, however, is pushing criminal charges against Jammeh for alleged abuses in his rule.

Barrow set up a truth commission to investigate the alleged abuses after he took office.

Before the hearing ended in May, he heard the testimony of hundreds of witnesses about state-sanctioned death squads, witch-hunts and forcing fake cures on AIDS patients, among other abuses.

The commission recommended that the government launch criminal cases in November, in a final report to Barrow without being released to the public.

The names of the officials to whom the allegations were made were also not disclosed.

The criminal charges are politically sensitive considering Jammeh’s followers, however.

There is also growing concern about Barrow’s enthusiasm for the accusations, despite the fact that the previous rhetoric was harsh with Jammeh.

In September, for example, Barrow’s NPP party announced a pact with Jammeh’s APRC in a controversial election move that was seen as an electoral ploy.

Jammeh said the decision was made without his knowledge, and his supporters have formed an opposing party. But rights groups fear the treaty will reduce their chances of a trial.