Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh trailing main rival in presidential vote

Yahya-Jammeh, Gambia’s president

Partial results showed Gambia’s President, Yahya Jammeh, trailing his main rival in a presidential election on Friday, raising the prospect of an unprecedented upset for a leader who pledged to rule the West African nation for a billion years.

According to media report, Jammeh’s rival, real estate developer Adama Barrow, had 44 per cent of the vote against Jammeh’s 40 per cent and 15 per cent for Mammah Kandeh.

Multiple civil society sources released identical results on Twitter in spite of efforts by Gambian authorities to seal all forms of communication with the outside world, with 39 out of 53 constituencies counted.

Gambians voted on Thursday amid total blackout of the Internet and all international calls, and with land borders sealed in a poll posing the first serious challenge to Jammeh since he seized power in a coup in 1994.

Earlier this week, Jammeh said “my presidency and power are in the hands of Allah and only Allah can take it from him.”

However, Gambia’s electoral commission head, Alieu Momarr Njai, told newsmen in Banjul that President Jammeh would concede defeat in an election, bringing a shock end to his 22 years in power since he staged a coup.

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