Security forces deployed heavily in Banjul Friday
as counting got under way after a tense election,
with early results showing Gambian President
Yahya Jammeh had lost ground in the capital, his
traditional stronghold.

Counting was slow and there was still little
indication of the eventual winner of an election
marked by an ongoing internet blackout in the
small west African nation.
However, opposition leader Adama Barrow scored
a symbolic victory in the capital Banjul, highlighting
the strong challenge posed to Jammeh, who is
standing for a fifth term.

Barrow took nearly 50 percent of the vote in
Banjul's three constituencies, according to the
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Jammeh had 43 percent while third party candidate
Mama Kandeh took 7.6 percent, the IEC said.
Nationwide, less than 15 percent of the ballots had
been counted from the almost 890,000 registered
voters.

Before dawn broke, military and police, some
covering their faces, set up checkpoints every few
hundred metres on the outskirts of the capital,
while citizens were inside sleeping or watching the
results come in.

- 'Generally peaceful conditions' -

Both Barrow and Jammeh said on Thursday they
had won by a huge margin.
"Power belongs to the people. You cannot stop us
and you cannot stop them," Barrow said.
Jammeh, who once said he would govern for a
billion years if God willed it, predicted "the biggest
landslide in the history of my elections."
The United States said turnout appeared to be high
and that the vote took place in "generally peaceful
conditions", while the IEC hailed "a very successful
election."

The US State Department and Human Rights Watch
voiced concern however over a blanket cut to
internet and international phone calls, as well as
claims of voter intimidation.

"The government's communications cutoff and
threatened protest ban are only likely to increase
tensions between the government and opposition
groups," said Babatunde Olugboji from Human
Rights Watch.

At his final campaign rally, Jammeh warned that
protests over the election result would not be
tolerated, saying The Gambia "does not allow"
demonstrations.
Information Minister Sheriff Bojang said Thursday
the shutdown was to stop the spread of "false
information" over the results, and described it as a
"security measure".

There was a brief resumption of service around
5:00am (0500 GMT), but diplomats believe the
shutdown could last until Sunday.
The opposition has relied on messaging
applications and texts to organise rallies and move
around roadblocks set up in Banjul during the last
week of campaigning.

The winner in the three-way race will serve a five-
year term in the tiny former British colony with
pristine beaches that occupies a narrow sliver of
land surrounded by French-speaking Senegal.
Jammeh is running for a fifth term with his ruling
Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and
Construction (APRC).

He faces previously unknown businessman
Barrow, chosen as the opposition flag bearer by a
group of political parties who have joined forces for
the first time and won unprecedented popular
support.
Third candidate Kandeh is popular among The
Gambia's Fula people and is a former ruling party
MP running for the Gambia Democratic Congress
(GDC).
All three men are 51, born in 1965, the year The
Gambia won independence from Britain.
If Barrow were to win -- a tall order both in terms
of votes and the likelihood of Jammeh giving up
power -- he would likely decide to serve a three-
year term at the head of a transition reform
government.

- Borders closed -

No professional international observers were on
the ground for the vote, diplomats confirmed, but a
small team of African Union experts monitored
events along with Banjul-based US and European
delegations already present in the country.

A Senegalese security source confirmed to AFP in
Dakar that The Gambia had closed the borders on
Thursday, a common occurrence during elections
in west Africa.
Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup and has
survived multiple attempts to remove him from the
presidency.

Some 60 percent of the population live in poverty in
The Gambia, and a third survive on $1.25 (1.20
euro) or less a day, according to the UN.

Source: http://primebaze.ga/2016/12/02/heavy-security-as-opposition-takes-banjul-in-gambia-vote/

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