Presidential Poll Ends Without Incident




allAfrica.com

October 18, 2001
Posted to the web October 18, 2001

Special Correspondent
Washington, DC

Contrary to widespread fears of violence and chaos, Gambia's crucial
presidential poll proceeded and ended peacefully on Thursday. Reliable
sources on the ground told allafrica.com that the voter turn-out was
surprisingly good, voting proceeded peacefully and polling stations across
the country closed at 1600hrs GMT.

The run-up to Thursday's poll was marred by a spate of violent clashes
between ruling party supporters and supporters of the three-party opposition
coalition led by Lawyer Ousainou Darboe. The worst clashes on Tuesday left
at least one opposition supporter dead after security forces opened fire
apparently in a bid to disperse rowdy crowds. The compound of the ruling
party MP for Serekunda East constituency was burnt to the ground by angry
youths, fueling fears that the actual polling day would see more violence.

"We have had reports from our agents at polling stations across the country
and we are very satisfied with the conduct of the polls," said Mr. Ebou
Manneh, Senior Administrative Secretary for the coalition. "We are very
happy and we are confident of victory. We are just waiting for the
preliminary results," he said.

A senior coalition member told allafrica.com that so far, they were "95
percent satisfied with the conduct of the polls."

"There have been a few hitches, but overall we are happy. We have conducted
ourselves responsibly and there has not been a single incidence of
violence," said Mr. Momodou Darboe.

Both coalition members would not, however, rule out the possibility of
future problems.

Meanwhile, similar optimistic notes were sounded by President Jammeh's
Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction. House Majority leader
Tamsir Jallow told allafrica.com that his party's candidate was confident of
a landslide victory.

"The voter turnout was very good across the country and everything went on
very peacefully. We are very very confident of a landslide victory," said Mr
Jallow. He cited the fact that the first result that came in from
Janjanbureh constituency in Central River Division indicated a victory for
Jammeh.

As at 1900hrs GMT, independent sources on the ground still maintained that
the election was too close to call. Fears that the counting process or
actual results would spark further controversy and possible violence were
still valid, an observer told allafrica.com. President Jammeh has however,
been quoted as saying that he would concede defeat in the event that his
opponent was declared the winner.

Preliminary results were expected to start trickling in to national radio
and television by nightfall Thursday.

Several international observers including groups from the Commonwealth, the
House of Commons, the United Nations, Transparency International, the BBC
and AP, are in the country to monitor the polls.




_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>