Three of the contesting candidates in Saturday’s presidential election have unanimously rejected the preliminary results of the election which sees incumbent President Adama Barrow winning a landslide victory.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the two other candidates, Ousainu Darboe, leader of the main opposition UDP, said:
“On December 4 2021, Gambians came out in large numbers to vote in the presidential elections. Twenty-four hours later, no clear winner has been declared by the Independent Electoral Commission.
“The United Democratic Party and its partners, GFA and Honourable Marie Sock, the Gambia Democratic Party and parties that endorsed his candidature, Honourable Essa Faal have the following preliminary observations on the just concluded electoral process; one, considering that the Gambia has an electorate of approximately 900,000 with on-the-spot counting, we are concerned that there has been an inordinate delay in the announcement of results; two, a number of issues have been raised by our agents and representatives in polling stations, centres and at the IEC headquarters.
“As a result, the representatives of the aforementioned candidates at the IEC headquarters refused to to endorse some of the results that were announced through the public media. We are investigating this matter and our partners, to determine our future course of action. At this point, we reject the results announced thus far by the IEC.
“We reserve the right to embark on any action the situation requires. To this end, all options are on the table. In the meantime, we urge all Gambians to remain calm and peaceful while we continue our investigations of these concerns.”
