From BBC Online



Friday, 19 October, 2001, 19:48 GMT 20:48 UK

Gambia's president wins election


Gambian turned out in large numbers to vote

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has won a second five-year term, defeating
the main opposition candidate, human rights lawyer Oussainou Darboe, by a
convincing margin.
Final results
Jammeh 52.96%
Darboe 32.67%
Others 14.37%
Source: Electoral Commission


"I have just phoned President Jammeh congratulating him on his victory, in
the interest of peace and democracy," Darboe told reporters in Gambia's
capital Banjul.

The electoral authorities say there was a high turn-out, with about 80% of
the 500,000-strong electorate casting their ballots.

Mr Jammeh has ruled Gambia since he seized power in a military coup in 1994.

With a majority of 52.96%, Mr Jammeh has avoided a second round in the
election.

Complaint

Mr Darboe strongly criticised a last-minute decision by the Electoral
Commission to relax procedures for identifying voters at the polling booths.



Jammeh has avoided a second round


At first the commission had said only people on the official final voters'
register could vote.

But then it reversed that decision and said those with a voter's card who
appeared on a draft register, or "counterfoil" could cast a ballot.

The BBC's Mark Doyle says there are almost bound to be disputes about this
change of heart.

The vote

He says on the whole, voting appeared to have gone peacefully, despite
tensions in the run-up to the poll which left at least one opposition
supporter dead during clashes with police.



Darboe is unhappy over use of identity cards


The more than half a million Gambians who were eligible to vote used a
unique ballot bell system in which each voter drops a marble into a drum for
their preferred candidate.

Our correspondent said that the marble struck a bell inside the drum to
ensure multiple voting could not be detected, and added that bicycles had
been banned from polling stations to prevent confusion with the ballot
bells.


_________________________________________________________________
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

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