Opposition leaders reject Gambian election results

0
136
Opposition Leaders in Kandeh, Darboe and Faal addressing the media at Darboe's Residence

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.”

Previous articleUDP STATEMENT ON THE DELAYED ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FINAL RESULTS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Next articleUDP Darboe urges militants to allow him to deal with the election
Mr. Sainey M.K. Marenah is a Prominent Gambian journalist, founding editor The Alkamba Times and formerly head of communications at the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) and Communications and PR Consultant for The Gambia Pilot Program, under Gamworks. Mr. Marenah served as the Social media Strategist and Editor at Gambia Radio and Television Services. He is also the Banjul Correspondent for Voice of America Radio. Sainey is a human rights and developmental journalist who has carved a strong niche particularly in new media environments in the Gambian media industry. Mr. Marenah began his career as a junior reporter with the Point Newspaper in the Gambia in 2008 and rose through the ranks to become Chief correspondent before moving to The Standard Newspaper also in Banjul as Editorial Assistant and head of News. He is a household name in the Gambia’s media industry having covered some of the most important stories in the former and current government. These include the high profile treason cases including the Trial of Former military chiefs in Banjul in 2009 to 2012. Following his arrest and imprisonment by the former regime of President, Yahya Jammeh in 2014, Marenah moved to Dakar Senegal where he continues to practice Journalism freelancing for various local and international Media organization’s including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, VOA, and ZDF TV in Germany among others. He is the co-Founder of the Banjul Based Media Center for Research and Development; an institution specialized in research and development undertakings. As a journalist and Communication Expert, focused on supporting the Gambia's transitional process, Mr Marenah continues to play a pivotal role in shaping a viable media and communications platform that engages necessary tools and action to increase civic participation and awareness of the needs of transitional governance to strengthen the current move towards democratization. Mr. Marenah has traveled extensively as a professional journalist in both Europe, Africa and United States and attended several local and international media trainings.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here