Gambia counts votes in 1st post-Jammeh election

Election officials started counting marble votes Saturday in Gambia after polls closed in country's first presidential election in decades that does t include former dictator Yahya Jammeh, a milestone seen as a test of democracy in West African country.

Long lines of Gambians came to vote to exercise ir democratic rights as demands for justice in post-Jammeh era rise.

Nearly 1 million registered voters were expected to drop marbles into one of six ballot bins, each adorned with face and name of a candidate.

candidates include incumbent President Adama Barrow, who defeated Jammeh in 2016 as an opposition leader.

Barrow’s challengers are former mentor and head opposition leader Ousaiu Darboe of United Democratic Party; Mama Kandeh of Gambia Democratic Congress; Halifa Sallah of People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism; Abdoulie Ebrima Jammeh of National Unity Party; and Essa Mbye Faal, former lead counsel of Gambia’s truth commission, who was running as an independent.

Barrow voted in Banjul, while Darboe voted in Fajara, a neighbourhood in Bakau, near capital, using a walker due to health problems.

Independent Electoral Commission presiding officer Musa Mbye told Associated Press that re were major problems during vote. IEC Chair Alieu Mommar Njie said election results would be anunced by Monday.

After polls closed, several officials started counts by laying marbles on wooden boards to mark 100 to 200 votes per board.

Political party representatives and polling station heads also sign off on vote count.

This year, it will also n be put into an app developed for Gambia’s election tracking, aptly called Marble.

All presidential candidates vowed to strengn country’s tourism-dependent ecomy amid coronavirus pandemic so fewer Gambians feel compelled to travel dangerous migration route to Europe.

While 2016 election that removed Jammeh from power after 22 years saw Gambians go from fear to elation, many are still t satisfied with progress nation has made.

Many Gambians want certainty that new leaders will bring tiny West African nation of about 2.4 million toward peace and justice.

Jammeh, who seized power in 1994 in a bloodless coup, was voted out of office in 2016.

After initially agreeing to step down, Jammeh resisted, and a six-week crisis saw neighboring West African countries prepare to send in troops to st a military intervention.

Jammeh was forced into exile and fled to Equatorial Guinea.

Jammeh's two-decade rule was marked by arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and summary executions that were revealed through dramatic testimony during Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission hearings that lasted for years.

Last week, commission handed its 17-volume report to President Barrow, urging him to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations are prosecuted.

Barrow said he would do that.

Still, many Gambians feel betrayed after Barrow's National People’s Party reached a deal with top figures of former ruling party, despite Jammeh’s split with that party.

Links to Jammeh are t only an issue for current president.

Opposition candidate Kandeh has been supported by a breakaway political faction that Jammeh formed during his exile in Equatorial Guinea.

While Kandeh has kept silent about Jammeh’s possible return to Gambia, his allies are unequivocally saying that Jammeh would come back if y emerge victorious from election.

Of or candidates, Sallah and Darboe are established politicians, but y face challenges from newcomers Faal and Ebrima Jammeh, who are making waves in urban areas.

IM: AP