The opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) is set to file an election petition at the Supreme Court of The Gambia on Monday, 13 December 2021.
It intends to challenge the validity of the results of the December 4 Presidential Election, as announced by the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, that saw the incumbent, President Adama Barrow, winning by a landslide.
UDP lawyers, according to credible sources, have already completed collecting evidence to support their petition.
“The Executive Committee met Friday and the results are under review by the external lawyers of the party, and we depend on their advice for the next steps in the process,” UDP spokesman Lawyer Almamy Fanding Taal told The Alkamba Times on Friday.
According to the Gambian constitution (in section 49): “Any registered political party which has participated in the election of a Presidential election or an independent candidate who has participated in such an election and isn’t satisfied with results may apply to the Supreme Court to determine the validity of the election of a President by filing a petition within 10 days of the declaration of the result of the election”.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) released the official election results last Sunday 5 December, and declared Barrow as the winner, with 457,519 votes and 53.2 percent of all the votes cast.
According to the figures released by the IEC, out of 962,157 registered voters, 859,567 cast their votes giving a high voter turnout of around 90 percent.
Barrow’s challengers in the election were namely, Ousainou Darboe of the UDP with 238,253 votes (27.7 percent), Mamma Kandeh of the GDC with 105,902 votes (12.3 percent), Halifa Sallah of PDOIS with 32,435 votes (3.8 percent) Independent candidate Essa Mbye Faal with 17,206 votes (2.0 percent) and Abdoulie Jammeh of the NUP with 8,252 votes (1.0 percent).
