Adama Barrow, who defeated President Yahya Jammeh in the 1 December polls, will become Gambia’s third president, after Sir Dauda Jawara and the incumbent.
Barrow, a 7-party coalition candidate in the polls, was declared winner by the independent electoral commission chairman Alieu Momarr Njai, Thursday.
PANA report that Jammeh came to power on 22 July, 1994, and held sway for 22 years in a ruthless manner, clamping down on opposition elements.
According to Njai, Barrow received 263,515 to beat Jammeh (who received 212,099 votes) and got 102,969 votes.
The results meant that Barrow won with 46% of the votes cast, Jammeh got 37% and Kandeh 18 %.
Declaring the winner at the IEC head office, Njai commended the three presidential candidates for conducting peaceful campaign, and called on Gambians to celebrate peacefully as they did during the electioneering campaign.
He called Gambia’s election process as one of the best in the world, especially in Africa, noting that this explains the good and peaceful results obtained.
Gambians have taken to the streets, chanting “the dictator regime has ended and welcome to freedom”.
Photo credit: Communaute Diecko Medina
