Gambians Re-Elect Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh


President Yahya Jammeh was on Thursday, October 18 re-elected President of
the Republic of The Gambia with a majority of 52.96%. Jammeh polled 242,302
votes (52.96% as compared to 55.76 in 1996), Darboe got 149,448 (32.67% as
compared to 35.84% in 1996), Bah poled 35,671 (7.80% in constrast to 5.52%
in 1996), Dibba, 17,271 (3.78% compared to 22% in 1992) and Jatta, 13,841
(3.03% in contrast to 2.86% in 1996).
A close scrutiny of Jammeh’s victory shows that Gambians are still attached
to the desiderata to hang on to the incumbent as it used to be the case in
the former Jawara regime. The devil you know is better than the one you
don’t.
In addition to this, the incumbency factor, further galvanised by Jammeh’s
military antecedent, also played in his favour. Another pointer for the win,
which is constantly echoed, is the resources factor as exemplified in the
mastering of logistics, mobilisation and the donations he made country-wide
even if argued that they were meant for mosques.
Another factor that Jammeh constantly employed is the argument that his was
a government that delivers and which intends to deliver more if re-elected.
This allowed him and his aides to enumerate their achievements in the areas
of education, air transport, road construction, etc. etc. The above factors
helped Jammeh forestall the perceived sanction vote that the opposition were
banking on.
At this juncture, one must point out that his personal involvement in the
campaigning saved the APRC. It would be recalled that Jammeh earlier
announced that he would not campaign. But when echoes of the failures of his
aides to make significant inroads reached him, he had a change of heart.
According to APRC sources, Jammeh wished for a 70% majority at least when
the projected 80% was no longer feasible.
For the UDP/PPP/GPP Coalition, the debacle came as a result of the following
factors: a) The coalition suffered from serious lack of resources, as it had
to contend with both financial and material problems. THE BIG TALK OF
FUNDING FROM OVERSEAS YIELDED ONLY SOME 2000 DOLLARS, ACCORDING TO SOURCES.
AND WHAT’S INTERESTING IS THAT SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTORS DEMANDED THEIR MONEY
BACK WHEN DIBBA OPTED OUT OF THE COALITION. OF COURSE ONE WOULD BE FOOLHARDY
TO BELIEVE THAT THE COALITION’S CAMPAIGN RESTED ON THIS INSIGNIFICANT
OVERSEAS CONTRIBUTION ALONE.(Emphasis mine) But the reality on the ground is
that whereas the APRC was able to move mountains, the coalition could only
move heaps of sand in terms of logistics and other organisational
paraphernalia. This led one leading PPP sympathiser to opine that Gambia’s
future elections results would hinge on the availability of resources to the
contending parties.
b) Another factor hinges on the poor performance of the coalition in
erstwhile PPP strongholds like the Jarras, the Serekundas, the Kombos, etc.
Save Basse where we are told Housainou Njie and Omar Sey made the
difference, Kiang West where allegiance to BB Darboe came to play and Sandu
where also the former MP’s community backing was a plus, the former
strongholds of the PPP became APRC strongholds instead. Observers see these
shortcomings as deadly blows on the PPP as a former ruling party.
c) The coalition also seems to have lost supporters on the last days of the
election as clashes led to the death of a young man and one lady. Crowd
control punctuated by firing in the air had also its psychological effect on
the peaceful people of The Gambia, leading to options in favour of the
status quo. For Hamat Bah, Sheriff Bojang recently recalled that when the
man was dismissed as a non-starter, we recognised his potentials in
September 1996.
The last five years have allowed Bah to nurture his charismatic political
acumen and industry. His powerful oratory output, coupled with his student
leaders’ verve, strengthened his debating ability and political prowess. His
current national acclaim from almost all quarters is well deserved as he
retained his constituency and consolidated his gains as a presidential
candidate as seen above. Hamat also suffered from lack of resources, as he
was most of the time hosted by the people he visited according to our
reporter who followed his campaign trail. For our brother Sheriff Dibba,
from the onset he had to fight with wild rumours peddled about his alleged
collusion with the APRC. As he himself made clear, his seven years absence
from the country’s political battlefields affected him very seriously. He
also had practically no resources as verified by our reporters.
For the PDOIS, Halifa Sallah has himself over GRTS painted the situation as
Sarja Taal did in 1996. Sallah emphasised that the PDOIS dealt with issues
in their campaign contrary to the others who were bent on politics of
sentiments.
Our own view is that the PDOIS does not engage in usual campaign techniques
where rhetorics mesmerise people and this affected their scores which
however increased compared to 1996. Voters like to be cajoled and coaxed for
their votes. The PDOIS candidate told the people to vote for the person they
viewed as the right man for the job. The party had also limited resources.
All said and done one important element that was beneficial to Gambians was
the party’s great contribution in the sharpening of the awareness of the
Gambian people regarding governance and other issues.




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