Great mobilization of voters to choose the president of Gambia after 27 years of dictatorship

A large multitude of voters in Gambia was mobilized this Saturday to choose his next president in elections considered a democratic transition proof as he is the first in 27 years who are not presented as a candidate The Dictator Yahya Jammeh.

Centenos of people made long queues in which patients were waiting for their turn to vote on the more than 1,500 electoral colleges enabled in the small country in West Africa since 08.00 local time (GMT itself) until 5:00 p.m.

More than 960,000 gambians are called to the polls to vote through a particular system with marbles (each glass ball is equivalent to a vote) and in a round to the president for the next five years.

They must choose between six candidates who highlight three: the current President Adama Barrow (56 years old), of the National People's Party (NPP); The historic OPOSITOR OUSAINOU Darboe (73 years), of the United Democratic Party (UDP); And the candidate who is being supported by Jammeh, Mama Kandeh (56 years old), of the Democratic Congress of Gambia (GDC).

Barrow aspires to a second term that is not exempt from controversy, then, after winning the elections in December 2016, he promised that he would leave office in three years, a promise that not only failed to comply but has not prevented him from appearing to re-election.

Barrow won with 45.5% of the votes in front of Yahya Jammeh, who obtained 36.7% after ruling the country with hand of iron for 22 years.

For his part, in 2016 Kandeh remained the third with 17.07% and Darboe could not present himself because he was in jail after participating in a protest and was Barrow the UDP candidate (which he belonged then), supported by A coalition of eight matches.

The unexpected result of those elections in Gambia caused a crisis that ended after the acceptance of Jammeh to abandon power in January 2017 and with its exile in Equatorial Guinea, leaving behind a regime with serious abuses of human rights, as forced disappearances, Torture and extrajudicial executions, whose victims still ask for justice.