Monrovia – No one expected Adama Barrow to win – but the incumbent President of The Gambia easily won re-election, receiving 53% of the vote after last Saturday’s vote.
The Independent Electoral Commission said Barrow received 457,519 votes, about 53 percent of the total votes. His nearest rival, long-time politician, Darboe of the United Democratic Party (UDP) garnered 238,253, or about 28 percent. However, three opposition candidates have rejected the results. They are Darboe, Mamma Kandeh of the Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), and independent candidate Essa Fall. Darboe told a news conference Sunday they were rejecting the results due to issues raised by their party agents and representatives at polling stations and the inordinate delay of results by the electoral commission.
The elections was undoubtedly, a landslide vote for Barrow – that never even entered a second round.
So, what went wrong?
After all, Barrow, in the weeks leading into Saturday’s vote, turned heads when he embraced the party of former dictator, Yahya Jammeh.
Although Jammeh who is currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea, had urged his supporters not to vote for Barrow, in spite of the support from his faction of his party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), voters had the last say.
The elections result, coming five years after Barrow defeated Jammeh in an historic elections, raised questions about Mr. Barrow’s sincerity regarding the truth and reconciliation process investigation atrocities committed by the former dictator Jammeh.
On the eve of the election, the names of the officials accused of bearing the greatest responsibility for gross human rights violations perpetrated during Jammeh’s 22-year rule were submitted to Barrow in hopes that they would face criminal trial.
Reminiscent of Liberia
Ahead of the elections, tension were high among victims and rights campaigners that Barrow could not be trusted to implement the TRRC’s recommendations due to his alliance with Jammeh’s party.
Mr. Barrow’s victory is reminiscent of unfolding developments in Liberia where candidates are already lining up to face the incumbent George Manneh Weah.
The opposition, perhaps hinging their hopes on the rapid deterioration in the rule of law, corruption, transparency and accountability issues, are putting all their chips on the table that Liberians will reject Weah in 2023, thus, their activities over the past few months have been marred by infighting and personal attacks amongst themselves, thereby providing an opening of a splinter opposition, the incumbent Weah is likely to capitalize on in his quest for a second.
The writings on the wall in Liberia, were similarly in the cards in The Gambia in the days leading into last Saturday’s vote.
Asked in a VOA Daybreak Africa interview after Saturday’s vote whether the five opposition candidates shot themselves by not coming together to rally behind a single candidate, Mr. Sait Matty Jaw, a National Investigator for Afro Barometer said: “There have been calls for the opposition to unite, but of course, given the liberalized political environment, most of them thought that they could have done it on their own. But if you look at the context, of course, there were some forms of coalitions that were formed, but you realize that Barrow had the biggest share. His coalition he refers to as the Grand Coalition. Of course, coalitions might have created a more balanced, or more close election, but this one was definitely decided by those that favor continuity and not those who wanted change”.
The victorious Barrow, in a post-victory speech called for unity between the country’s political factions: “I call on all Gambians, irrespective of your political divide, to put aside our political and other differences and come together as one people to work towards the development of our country,” he said.
Although the opposition Darboe and two other candidates – Mama Kandeh and Essa Mbye Faal – issued a joint statement before the final result was declared, questioning the figures, the figures are likely to stand.
The opposition expressed concerns over delays, and the fact that their party agents had raised a number of issues.
Crying Foul, the New Norm
The cry of foul play is nothing new to African politics.
At the end of the second round of the 2005 Presidential elections, Weah, then an opposition candidate claimed fraud, stating election officials stuffed ballot boxes in his main opponent, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s favor. However, most elections observers, including those from the United Nations, the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States declared that the election was clean and transparent. While the Carter observed “minor irregularities”, it reported no major problems. In fact, Johnson-Sirleaf, at the time, reminded the press that Weah had 72 hours to bring evidence of wrongdoing to her campaign according to Liberian law, calling the accusations “lies” and stating that Weah’s supporters “just don’t want a woman to be President in Africa.”
Similarly, during the second round of the 2011 presidential elections which secured Madam Sirleaf’s second term, Mr Weah’s party again claimed that the elections were fraudulent.
After the first round of voting in the 2011 elections, Sirleaf led the presidential field with 43.9% of the vote, followed by Winston Tubman of the Congress for Democratic Change with 32.7%. As no candidate received an absolute majority, Sirleaf and Tubman stood in a run-off election held on November 8, 2011. Tubman alleged that the first round had been rigged in Sirleaf’s favor and called on his supporters to boycott the run-off.
