Friday, 19 October, 2001, 14:27 GMT 15:27 UK
Gambia's president in lead


Gambian turned out in large numbers to vote

President Yahya Jammeh has built up a sizeable lead in the vote count
following Thursday's presidential election in Gambia.
Officials say turnout was over 80% and that voting was extended in many
parts of the country because of delays in the delivery of electoral
materials.

Results so far
37/48 districts counted
Jammeh 52.09%
Darboe 32.92%
Others 14.99%
Source: Electoral Commission


Final results are expected by the end of the day and if none of the five
candidates secures more than 50% of votes needed to win outright, the
election goes to a second round.

Electoral commission chairman Gibril Roberts announced on state television
that with 37 of the 48 districts counted, Mr Jammeh has just over 52% of the
vote while his main challenger, lawyer Mr Ousainou Darboe, who leads an
opposition coalition, is in second place with almost 33%.

Complaint

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



Jammeh might be vulnerable if a second round is needed


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.

Update from BBC Online



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

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