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The results have been announced in 15 of the country’s 53 constituencies, and show that the incumbents are taking the lead early.
Headline Adama Barrow is showing an early advantage as the Gambians wait to see the winner of their first presidential election since former Gambian man Yahya Jammeh fled into exile.
Since the GMT polls closed at 5pm on Saturday, the state channel has released online results from around 15 of the country’s 53 constituencies.
Ahmed Idris of the Al Jazeera group, from the capital Banjul, said that more results are expected in the coming hours.
“Before the end of the day, we will find out who the winner is. A simple majority is enough to win any of the six candidates, ”Idris said.
The election is being watched as a test of the democratic transition in Gambia, where Jammeh ruled for 22 years in 1994 after taking power in a bloodless coup.
Jammeh was forced into exile in Equatorial Guinea in January 2017 after Adama Barrow, then an unknown relative, was defeated at the polls.
Barrow, 56, faces five challenges again in the selection process.
A number of factors have slowed down, including the lack of financial resources in the Gambia, high turnout and an unusual voting system in the country.
Illiteracy is widespread in the Gambia, so voters voted to throw a marble in a bowl marked with the candidate’s color and photograph, a practice that dates back to the country’s past as a British colony.
Many of the country’s more than two million people are expected to improve their living standards.
Barrow is working on a continuity card, stating that he has stepped up completed infrastructure projects and civil liberties under his responsibility.
Ousainou Darboe, a political veteran, is considered by the opposition to be the main opposition candidate.
He is a 73-year-old lawyer who has replaced Jammeh’s opponents and has repeatedly filed a lawsuit against the powerful former president.
He also served as foreign minister and then vice president in Barrow, before stepping down in 2019.
Jammeh lost to Barrow in the 2016 election, but was eventually ousted by military intervention from other West African states.
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