Gambia: Adama Barrow to face five others in presidential poll

November 8, 2021 Elwin Mandowa

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Gambia’s President Adama Barrow is set to face five other candidates in next month’s presidential election due on December 4.

It will be the first time Gambians will be voting for a president without ex-leader Yahya Jammeh contesting.

The last time he contested, he refused to concede defeat after losing to current President Adama Barrow.

Jammeh however was forced to go into exile after external pressure for him to concede defeat and exit power.

Other candidates for next month’s polls include Barrow’s former political mentor Ousainou Darboe, 73, and Essa Mbye Faal, the man who served as chief counsel of Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.

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Also running is Mama Kandeh, who came third in the 2016 polls that Barrow won.

The election commission of Gambia however rejected fifteen other candidates for failing to meet the commission’s standards.

President Barrow became unpopular among some section of the Gambia population after reneging on his initial promise to only serve as a transitional leader for three years.

He can now contest for the presidency as many times as he desires after a bill to limit presidential terms to two failed to pass last year.

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President Barrow was a former security guard in London and has struggled to pull Gambia out of economic difficulties, a situation worsened by COVID-19.