Adama Barrow Wins Presidential Election To Secure a Second Term despite his opponents opposing the results

Adama Barrow, the President of Gambia, has won re-election to a second term in office.

Thousands of his followers flocked to Banjul, Gambia’s capital, to celebrate his triumph, despite his opponents’ objections to the results, which were released on Sunday evening.

According to the results given by the electoral commission, Barrow received more than 53% of the vote, ending more than 20 years of dictatorship established by the former leader, Yahya Jammeh. Ousainou Darboe, his major opponent, received 27.7% of the vote.

The poll on Saturday, the first since former dictator Jammeh fled to exile, was seen as important for the fledgling West African democracy.

Barrow was proclaimed the winner by Electoral Commission Chairman Alieu Momarr Njai, who announced the full results to press hours after rival candidates rejected partial results that gave him a commanding lead.

Barrow addressed his supporters with “a profound sense of delight and humility” and called on them to respect those who voted for his opponents in a “free, fair, and transparent election,” he received a standing ovation.

Adama Barrow’s competitors had rejected partial results that gave him an early lead before the final results.

In his re-election bid, Barrow, 56, faced five opponents, and the vote count was slowed in part due to the country’s peculiar voting method.

Because illiteracy is common in The Gambia, voters cast their ballots by dropping a marble into a container marked with their candidate’s color and photo – a process that dates back to the country’s colonial past.

Many of the nearly one million eligible voters in the country of more than two million people want to see their living conditions improve.

The Gambia is one of the poorest countries on the planet.

Half of the population lives on less than $1.90 a day according to the World Bank.

The Covid-19 pandemic did a serious harm to the tourism-dependent economy.

Barrow ran on a ticket of continuity, citing infrastructural improvements done under his leadership and greater civil liberties as examples.