The streets of urban Gambia appear to be quiet on Tuesday, after Monday’s skirmishes between the police and opposition supporters protesting the results of the presidential election which handed victory to incumbent President Adama Barrow.
The electoral commission chair Alieu Momar Njie on Sunday declared President Barrow the winner of Saturday’s presidential election after he polled 452, 579 or 53.2 percent of the total votes cast.
Since then supporters of Barrow’s National People’s Party have been in carnival mood, honking car horns and dancing in the streets of the capital Banjul and other towns and cities across the country.
Ousainou Darboe, a former political ally of Mr. Barrow polled 238, 253 or 27.7 percent of the votes followed by Mamma Kandeh of the Gambia Democratic Party in third with 105, 902 or 12.3 percent.
Both Darboe and Kandeh continue to reject the results but have so far not provided evidence of fraud.
Essa Mbye Faal, the only independent candidate at the election in a telephone chat with President Barrow conceded after initially challenging the results along with Mr Darboe and Kandeh.
Meanwhile UDP supporters agonised by the results have been taking to the streets to protest the outcome, alleging fraud on the part of the NPP in collusion with the independent electoral commission.
“We have been robbed and our leader Ousainou Darboe has been denied a clear victory” one supporter told APA as the UDP protesters were charged down by a column of anti-riot police using truncheons and firing teargas on Monday evening.
For four hours UDP supporters engaged the police in running battles near the home of the party leader who in a statement said he was rejecting the results in their totality before the electoral commission could finish announcing them on Sunday.
Unconfirmed reports from UDP officials say teargas canisters were fired inside Darboe’s residence where he had earlier told thousands of his supporters to exercise maximum restraint as his party considers its next move against a “fraudulent election”.
An unconfirmed number of UDP supporters injured in the clashes have been spirited to the medical centres in the seaside town of Bakau, an opposition stronghold where heavily armed soldiers patrolled the streets which was also rocked by rioting on Monday.
The clashes took place against the backdrop of scenes of revelry by ruling NPP supporters still celebrating what had been described as an electoral landslide for President Barrow, 56.
It was the first presidential election since longterm ruler Yahya Jammeh was defeated by Mr. Barrow in 2016 and forced into exile.
Meanwhile both local and international observers while citing few lapses during polling have described the election as largely free, fair and transparent.
Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo leading an election observation mission from the Commonwealth was one of several ex African heads of state who visited Mr. Darboe at his home with a view to prevailing on him to rein in his supporters.
WN/as/APA