The candidate of the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh has won the November 24th Presidential Election with an unprecedented voter percentage since the advent of the Second Republic.

Alhaji Mustapha Carayol, returning officer and chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officially declared the final election results a few minutes after 4pm on Friday afternoon after almost 24 hours of announcing results from the various constituencies as they started pouring in at the Election House around 9pm on Thursday.  The verdict paved the way for president-elect Jammeh to rule the country for a fourth time being first elected in 1996.

President-elect Jammeh, 46, polled 470,550 votes representing 72 percent of the total votes cast in the election, whilst his main opposition challenger, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, 63, of the United Democratic Party (UDP) who has been in the election wrestling field with Jammeh since 1996 polled 114, 117 votes, representing 17 percent of the total votes cast.

 Meanwhile, Hamat Bah, 51, an independent candidate under the banner of the United Front, a coalition of four opposition political parties, came third in the race, polling 11 percent, representing 73, 060 of the votes cast for him in the polls.

President-elect Jammeh, whose party swept all the 48 constituencies, registered an increase in terms of percentage, having climbed by five percent from 67 in 2006 to 72 percent in 2011; a margin that demonstrates the strengthening of the ruling party in the country.

Opposition’s worst election
Meanwhile, this election appears to be the worst for the opposition in terms of performance and it shows their dwindling fortunes in Gambian politics. This is ascertained by the fact that the country’s main opposition political party, United Democratic Party got a blow when it registered a decrease in terms of percentage after dropping by nine percent from 26 in 2006 to 17 in 2011.

Having polled five and seven percent in the 1996 and 2001 Presidential Elections respectively under the ticket of the opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP), Hamat Bah who faced Jammeh for a  fourth time for the nation’s top job however recorded an increase in terms of percentage in this election, scoring 11 percent for the first time as a presidential candidate even though under the banner of the United Front.

Impressive voter turnout
Political analysts have described this year’s presidential election as impressive as the national voter turnout increased significantly by 25 percent, from 58 in 2006 to 83 in 2011.

This rise in percentage addressed the voter apathy in the last election that has up to the November 24th been a major concern to almost all the political actors or stakeholders. In fact more than 657,000 out of the more than 750,000 registered voters cast their votes in this year’s election.

The 83 percent voter turnout was the end result of a vigorous voter education and civic right education spearheaded by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the National Council on Civic Education (NCCE) respectively through various means.

 The political actors notably the presidential candidates and their key figures were also never-ending in their call on the citizenry to fulfill what they described as a civic duty or constitutional right in the election.

The West Coast Region recorded the highest voter turnout percentage of 85; whilst the Lower River and the North Bank Regions jointly came second with 84 percent voter turnout each. Central River Region came third with 83 percent, whilst Banjul came fourth with 82 percent. Kanifing Municipality got 81, and Upper River Region got the smallest voter turnout percentage of 77%.   

Campaign period
Thursday’s race was preceded by a successful vigorous and intense campaign by all the three presidential candidates across the country; a 12-day exercise that was peaceful and smooth.

There was neither major ugly incidents nor reports of intimidation or harassment during the period that also gave all the political parties equal airtime on both the national radio and television. The ground was level to the point that none of the three presidential aspirants cried foul during the campaign period.

Polling day
Polls for the November 24th Presidential Election opened as early as 7am in the morning with the voters heading to the polling centres as early as 6:30am. Hundreds of thousands of eligible Gambians formed long queues at polling stations across the country to fulfill a civic duty to cast their votes for their presidential candidates.

The voting process that was wrapped-up at 4pm saw a smooth and peaceful exercise with no major problems even though some voters complained about minor issues such as which of the polling booths to vote at the polling station.

This, we understand was due to the fact that where electorates registered can have more than one or two polling booths in one station meant to ease the process and avoid congestion. Another observation on the polling day was the fact that even though polls closed at 4pm, those found on the queue at that time were allowed to cast their votes.

Meanwhile the three presidential candidates all voted at their respective areas of registration. The ruling party presidential candidate [now president-elect] cast his vote at the July 22nd Square in Banjul, along with his spouse, Her Excellency Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh at around mid-day.

The United Democratic Party presidential candidate voted at Pipeline, whilst Independent candidate, Hamat Bah of the United Front voted in his native village of Kerr Audli, Upper Saloum in the Central River Region where he was seen in a GRTS television footage expressing his satisfaction with the process.
 
The closure of the polls proceeded with the counting of the votes in the presence of all the political party agents, domestic and international observers and other stakeholders who confirmed and certified the number of votes for each presidential candidate in each constituency before being sent to the Election House in Kanifing for the returning officer and election chief to announce through the medium of public electronic media – radio and television.

The first result announced was that of the Janjanbureh Constituency being the smallest constituency with the lowest number of registered voters. Jammeh swept that constituency, conquered all the rest, before getting a landmark vote in the last constituency, Kombo North with a historic record vote of 61,000. That closed the election before the chairman of the IEC declared the final results.   

Best ruling party voting region
According to the IEC statistics on this election culled from its official website, the North Bank Region emerged as the best voting region again for the ruling party having registered 78 percent of the total votes cast in the region for the APRC, whilst the Upper River Region came second with 77 percent. The Kanifing Municipality despite its dense population gave the least percentage vote of 64 to the ruling party.

Major deciders
The major deciders of the Gambia’s elections however happens to be Kombo North, Kombo South, Kombo Central, Serrekunda East, Central and West respectively. Any political party that can conquer these areas is sure to remain at the helm of affairs of this country.

Their results were overwhelming, and just as expected, they all gave the ruling party comfortable votes. Kombo North polled 61, 173; Kombo South, 24, 949; and Kombo Central over 31,503 votes for the ruling party. Meanwhile Serrekunda East, West and Central polled 27, 992, 23, 779, and 20, 754 respectively.    

Red zones conquered
Also interesting in this election is the fact that the ruling party has conquered red zones, that is, major opposition strongholds in the country. Chief among those zones included Kiang West in the Lower River Region, which up to the November polls was an opposition United Democratic Party stronghold, and Sami and Kiang Central Constituencies , a semi-red zones and Sami  is birthplace of opposition leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe in the Central River Region.

Such a development will force the opposition to the drawing board to devise new strategies and workable ideas with a view to not only recover the red zones and maintaining their parliamentarians in the upcoming National Assembly Elections early next year, but also increase the number of seats they command at the Legislative House in order to regain the confidence of Gambians whose support for them is fading away.

Declaration and victory celebrations
Shortly after the returning officer and chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Alhaji Mustapha Carayol announced the results at around 4:20pm, giving the incumbent a historic landslide victory, an euphoria of celebrations gripped the nation with thousands of Gambians of all ages taking to the streets especially in the Greater Banjul Area to reap the fruits of the seed that they sowed in the elections.

The streets were filled up with ruling party supporters, especially around Westfield with some climbing on any type of vehicle just to make their way to the July 22nd Square in Banjul for a landmar k victory celebration. The vehicle scarcity forced many of the supporters to trek the 11-kilometer long distance from Westfield to Banjul all for the sake of  coming eye-to-eye with the winning president.

Ferocious drumming, singing, dancing and hymning characterised the victory celebrations with life music bands and cultural performances from the nation’s custodians of music. The victory celebration lasted for three days, with regional celebrations also scheduled to take place in due course.