Supporters of incumbent president Adama Barrow’s National Peoples Party (NPP) during a campaign rally in Banjul in November 2021.
Photo by Guy Peterson/AFP via Getty Images
Adama Barrow’s re-election in The Gambia was not unexpected. It, however, leaves the opposition with an uncertain path forward and signals the shrinking status of his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh.
The Gambia has a unique system of voting that does not involve the use of paper ballots in casting votes – instead it uses marbles.
Supporters of Gambia’s president, Adama Barrow, sing and dance during a campaign rally in Banjul on November 27, 2021.
Guy Peterson/AFP via Getty Images
The 2021 presidential election in The Gambia is expected to be peaceful and losing candidates are likely to accept the outcome.
Gambians celebrate the departure of former strongman Yahya Jammeh in front of an armoured vehicle manned by West African troops in early 2017.
Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images
The Gambia’s agreement with the European Union to return immigrants to the country is causing the government problems at home.
Then President of The Gambia Yahya Jammeh and First Lady Zeinab arrive at the White House in Washington DC for the US Africa Leaders Summit in 2014.
EPA/Michael Reynolds
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham dan Brian Klaas, London School of Economics and Political Science
Elections are easy to rig, and they give authoritarian leaders a veneer of legitimacy they badly need.
Gambian refugees on a wooden boat. Thousands of Africans make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean each year hoping for a better life in Europe.
Emma Farge/Reuters
Gambia became a symbol for democratic change earlier this year when former dictator Yahya Jammeh was peacefully ousted through the ballot box. Now Europe wants its Gambian immigrants to return home.
Rwandan presidential candidate, Frank Habineza, waves to supporters.
Reuters/Jean Bizimana
With frequent irregularities, it’s easy to become cynical about elections in Africa. But polls are an essential component of the continent’s growing democracy.
People cheer as Senegalese troops arrive to take charge of security at the presidential palace in Banjul, The Gambia.
EPA/Legnan Koula
The adoption of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance five years ago raised hopes for a new democratic Africa. But its ideals remain elusive for many parts of the continent.
Rejoicing in Banjul, January 2017.
EPA/Legnan Koula
Regional power Ecowas, which has just seen off yet another dictator in Yahya Jammeh, started off with a tame agenda 42 years ago. But it was soon shaped by civil wars, military coups and despots
Gambia’s new President Adama Barrow arriving home.
EPA
Although Ecowas and the AU made sure that Yahya Jammeh stepped down after losing the elections in The Gambia, caution is warranted in assuming this heralds a trend against African dictatorships.
Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Muhammadu Buhari, Macky Sall and former Ghanian President John Mahama at a special meeting of Ecowas on The Gambia.
Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
SADC’s credibility is at stake. Its lack of political will in acting decisively against despots is at odds with the African Union’s goal of promoting legitimate governance on the continent.
The Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh at an ECOWAS meeting in Senegal over a political crisis in Mali. Now it’s his turn to face the music.
Joe Penney/Reuters
Yahya Jammeh will certainly be removed if West Africa decides to use force. But that will come at a heavy price for The Gambia, the neighbouring states and the world as a whole
The Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh is under pressure from regional leaders to cede power.
Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon
The Gambian election dispute is not the first that ECOWAS has confronted. Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010 presidential election is a case in point. There it resorted to military action to enforce the outcome.
Gambian president-elect Adama Barrow during an interview in December 2016.
Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
There is a real sense of optimism in The Gambia: for the first time since Yahya Jammeh came to power, there has been open dissent of the regime and a feeling of ownership of the country’s future.
Supporters of president-elect Adama Barrow celebrate his victory in Banjul, the Gambia.
Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon
A peaceful transition in the Gambia, taken together with hints of change in Angola and Zimbabwe, will portend hope that Africa’s democratic renewal is still alive.