Parliamentary elections were held in the

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 ...

on 29 March 2012. The ruling

Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction The Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) is a political party in The Gambia. Founded by army officers who staged a coup in 1994, it was the dominant ruling party from 1996 until 2016 with president Yahya Jammeh. History ...

(APRC) won 43 of the 48 elected seats.

Electoral system

48 of the 53 members of the unicameral

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

were directly elected, with an additional five members appointed by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. Due to the over 50% illiteracy rate in the country, voters would drop glass marbles into coloured drums based on the candidate they chose. Upon the marble hitting the bottom of each drum, a bell would sound to prevent voter fraud through multiple voting.

Campaign

There were 86 candidates for 48 elected seats. 25 seats were won unopposed by the APRC. Six opposition parties ( United Democratic Party (UDP), People's Progressive Party,

People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism The People's Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) is a socialist political party in the Gambia. Since 2005, it has been part of the National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD). It was part of Coalition 2016 ...

National Democratic Action Movement The National Democratic Action Movement (NDAM) is a political party in the Gambia. NDAM was formed by Waa Juwara in 2001, following the presidential election that year. Juwara broke away from the United Democratic Party, accusing the party leader ...

Gambia Moral Congress The Gambia Moral Congress (abbreviated GMC) is a political party in the Gambia. The party was founded by the lawyer Mai Ahmad Fatty in 2009. The motto of the party is ''People Power for Human Rights and Economic Justice''. The GMC was part of the ...

Gambia Party for Democracy and Progress The Gambia Party for Democracy and Progress (GPDP) is a small political party in the Gambia. It is led by Henry Gomez, a resident of Hamburg, Germany. The party initially launched Gomez as their presidential candidate for the 2006 elections, but a ...

, National Convention Party and the

National Alliance for Democracy and Development The National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) is a three-party coalition (previously five parties) of Gambian opposition political parties. It was officially launched January 2005 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (M ...

) boycotted the elections, saying they were rigged in favour of the APRC, and after a request to postpone the election was rejected. The UDP's

Ousainou Darboe Ousainou Darboe (born 8 August 1948) is a Gambian politician and lawyer who serves as the National Assembly Minority Leader since April 2022. He previously served as Vice-President of the Gambia and Minister of Women's Affairs from June 2018 t ...

said that the ruling party was "using government resources. They operate from the offices of the regional governors and from the offices of the various local authorities to operate." The grouping also called for ECOWAS to intervene. The grouping said that APRC had "an abuse of incumbency scomplete merger between party and state" allowed for the ruling party to use state resources such as the media for "political advantage."

Hamat Bah Hamat Ngai Kumba Bah is a Gambian politician who is the current Minister of Tourism and Culture in President Adama Barrow's cabinet. He is also the leader of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) and has been a presidential candidate in 1996, ...

National Reconciliation Party The National Reconciliation Party is a political party in The Gambia. It was founded in 1996, and is led by its founder, Hamat Bah. History The National Reconciliation Party was founded in 1996 by Hamat Bah as part of his intention to run f ...

(NRP) decided to participate in the elections. Bah made the decision on the premise that he could win back the seat lost after the founding of the

and was subsequently barred by a court ruling.

Conduct

Electoral observers were present from 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 ...

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

and the Organisation of Islamic Conference.

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political union, political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an ...

(ECOWAS), said it would not agree to monitor the election because, according to them, the election was not "free, fair and transparent." ECOWAS also criticised the AU for sending an observer mission.

Results

References

{{Gambian elections Parliamentary elections in the Gambia

Parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

March 2012 events in Africa Election and referendum articles with incomplete results

Electoral system

Campaign

Conduct

Results

See also

References