- Title: Gambians react to President Jammeh's rejection of poll defeat
- Date: 11th December 2016
- Summary: BANJUL, GAMBIA (DECEMBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS) CONVOY OF GAMBIAN PRESIDENT-ELECT ADAMA BARROW DRIVING PAST AFTER HOLDING A MEETING IN A HOTEL FOLLOWING PRESIDENT YAHYA JAMMEH'S DECISION TO ANNUL THE ELECTION / BARROW WAVING, PEOPLE APPLAUDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BANJUL RESIDENT, BAGAN N'DJAI, SAYING: "You are the witness of this. You know, we want to be like the whole world, peaceful change. It's our country, it's our president. He rules us for 22 years. We say change, just change, so that we evolve the country. We say thank you to him, because he rules us for 22 years. He did good, he did bad, it's no problem. So we can tell him thank you for what you have done for us, so we should still keep him happy so that this country belongs to all of us. We should not see the tribe; we don't want to see tribal (conflict) it's not nice. So we want to congratulate him for his wonderful job (Jammeh) and go home and stay." (SOUNDBITE) (English) UMI JALLAH, GAMBIA RESIDENT, SAYING: "Yes, yesterday after the speech I was like 'ok this is the true Jammeh we know', like, that was not sincere at all, the first speech he gave, the call to Adama Barrow everything, that was all fake. So I was shocked at first but later on when he spoke it. But it doesn't make any sense, the speech he gave yesterday, it does not make any sense. Like how can we vote and he conceded defeat and later on he wants an election again, so it does not make any sense to me." EXTERIOR OF TOURIST SHOP WOMAN WALKING PAST RESTAURANT TOURISTS AT TABLE TOURISTS AT RESTAURANT POLICE OFFICER WALKING ACROSS ROAD VEHICLES DRIVING ALONG STREET
- Embargoed: 26th December 2016 14:24
- Keywords: Gambia elections Adama Barrow Yahya Jammeh result president
- Location: BANJUL, GAMBIA
- City: BANJUL, GAMBIA
- Country: Gambia
- Reuters ID: LVA0015CFVDC7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Many Gambians were cheering President-elect Adama Barrow in the capital Banjul on Saturday (December 10), the day after President Yahya Jammeh said he no longer recognised the election results.
Jammeh initially accepted his defeat in a Dec. 1 election before making a dramatic about-face in a statement broadcast on state television late on Friday, citing "serious and unacceptable abnormalities" and calling for fresh polls.
His party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), said on Saturday night it was preparing a legal challenge to the result and would go before the Supreme Court.
His loss to opposition candidate Adama Barrow, announced by the elections commission last week and followed by his rapid concession, had sparked hope for change in the tiny West African nation following 22 years of Jammeh's authoritarian rule.
Barrow said on Saturday that the outgoing leader had no authority to reject the results of the Dec. 1 election.
Jammeh's belated objections to the poll results followed a correction by the elections commission this week which reduced Barrow's margin of victory to fewer than 20,000 votes.
The United Nations and African Union piled pressure on Jammeh to step aside.
The streets of Banjul were calm on Saturday with a strong police presence.
International criticism of Jammeh came in fast. Following the United States and Senegal, the African Union on Saturday weighed in, calling Jammeh's statement "null and void". The European Union has also called for a peaceful transfer of power.
Senegal, which has Gambia's only land border and once sent troops there during a coup, has called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and "solemnly" warned Jammeh not to harm Senegal's interests or its citizens in Gambia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
