By Mustapha Ceesay
The United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate, Ousainu Darboe has lost the December 4 presidential election in The Gambia.
The UDP candidate Darboe; Mama Kandeh of Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC); Abdoulie Ebrima Jammeh of the National Unity Party (NUP), Halifa Sallah of People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS); and Essa Mbye Faal, Independent Candidate lost the election to Adama Barrow of the National People’s Party, the incumbent.
Of the total votes cast, Barrow secured 457, 519; Darboe got 238, 253; Kandeh pulled 105, 902; Jammeh scored 8, 252; Sallah gathered 32, 435; and Faal got 17, 206
However, Darboe, Kandeh, and Faal with their partners have jointly rejected the results in a statement and reserved the right to embark on any lawful course of action the situation requires.
They said their decision is based on the preliminary observations they made on the just concluded electoral process.
The UDP party previously lost 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011 presidential elections to then president Yahya Jammeh.
However, the party formed a coalition with 6 other parties and an independent candidate in 2016 which defeated Jammeh.
Kandeh, in the 2016 election lost to Barrow as Coalition candidate and now as NPP candidate this year; whilst this is the first election Faal contested and lost.
Voting was generally peaceful with no reports of major incidents across the election.