Tense poll for The Gambia

GAMBIAN President Yahya Jammeh faced the biggest threat to his 22-year rule yesterday as the country headed to the polls following two weeks of unprecedented rallies by an energised opposition.

About 880 000 Gambians will be eligible in an election overshadowed by an internet blackout in a nation long accused by rights groups of suppressing freedom of expression.

The winner will serve a fiveyear term in the tiny former British colony in west Africa.

Jammeh is running for a fifth term with his ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC). He faces businessman Adama Barrow and an independent candidate who have formed a coalition for the first time, with unprecedented support. At his final rally on Tuesday, Jammeh warned that protests over yesterday’s results would not be tolerated.

The Gambia’s unique voting system, which sees citizens vote by dropping a marble into a coloured drum for their candidate, could not be rigged, he said, meaning “there is no reason for anybody to protest”.

Rights group Amnesty International urged the authorities to ensure that the election and post-electoral period “are held in a climate free from violence”.

Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup and has targeted opponents and several of his ministers in recent years, surviving attempts to remove him from power. In recent months a former minister, an MP who once belonged to the ruling party and two journalists with the state broadcaster have been detained.

Though 60% of the population live in poverty, progress has been made in the last 20 years in improving literacy and child mortality rates. Jammeh has banned child marriage and female genital mutilation. — AFP