Gambian presidential election, 2011
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Presidential elections were held in the Gambia on 24 November 2011. Incumbent President
Yahya Jammeh Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (born 25 May 1965) is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the leader of The Gambia from 1994 to 2017, firstly as chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC) from 199 ...
, in office since seizing power in a 1994 coup, faced Ousainou Darboe of the United Democratic Party and Hamat Bah of the National Alliance for Democracy and Development. The elections were won by Jammeh, who received 72% of the vote on an 83% turnout.


Electoral system

Voting took place using marbles dropped into coloured containers each containing a gong.


Conduct

The elections were monitored by the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
who praised the process, European Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) did not send any monitors because of "an unacceptable level of control of the electronic media by the party in power... and an opposition and electorate cowed by repression and intimidation". Before the elections Jammeh had claimed "I will never compromise peace and stability at the altar of so-called democracy", that "there is no way I can lose unless you tell me that all Gambian people are mad" and in response to press criticism said "The journalists are less than 1% of the population and if anybody expects me to allow less than 1% of the population to destroy 99% of the population, you are in the wrong place." On the election day Bah claimed that he had not heard of any intimidation of his supporters although Darboe claimed the vote was fraudulent, rejected the result and complained of intimidation from the presence of military vehicles on the streets. The Independent Electoral Commission also said there was no intimidation and that "it is impossible to rig elections in Gambia". There was also criticism of the election organisation as many voters went to the wrong polling station.


Results


References

Presidential elections in the Gambia
Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
Presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...
November 2011 events in Africa {{Gambia-stub