{"id":22747,"date":"2022-10-08T18:33:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-08T18:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2"},"modified":"2022-10-08T19:15:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T19:15:59","slug":"the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2","title":{"rendered":"The Gambia votes for a new National Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Gambians to vote for 53 legislators on a five-year term, with President Barrow picking five others, including the parliament\u2019s president. Gambians have gone to the polls to vote for a new National Assembly in an election set to consolidate a young democracy.<\/p>\n

Polls opened at 8am (08:00 GMT) and will close at 5pm (17:00 GMT) for the election of 53 legislators for a five-year term, with incumbent President Adam Barrow picking five others, including the parliament\u2019s president. Results are expected on Sunday.About 40 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) observers are deployed<\/a> across seven administrative regions to monitor the electoral process in The Gambia, a tiny country almost entirely enveloped by Senegal.<\/p>\n

Barrow rose to power in 2017 after winning the presidential election that marked the end of Yahya Jammeh\u2019s rule with the latter fleeing the country following a military intervention led by ECOWAS. In December last year, Barrow was re-elected president in what was largely seen as a test for democratic stability in Africa\u2019s smallest country.What is expected?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe likelihood is that [Barrow] will take the majority of the house and be able to draw from the support of splinter actors, such as independent candidates,\u201d said Jeggan Johnson of the Open Society Foundation\u2019s Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project. If such a scenario materialises, Barrow could win two-thirds of parliament with major implications, Johnson added.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cHe will look at consolidating his power, at legitimising the executive imbalance that Jammeh left and that he inherited, and look at consolidating his influence in order to make arbitrary decisions to leverage access to public resources.\u201d Barrow faces a fragmented and unpopular opposition which may work in his favour.<\/p>\n

Ousainou Darboe, leader of the main opposition party, the United Democratic Party (UDP), has lost the past presidential elections and his party, Johnson argued, has failed to shake off the perception that it represents the Mandinka ethnic group, the second largest in the country.<\/p>\n

Experts also predict a low turnout on Saturday due to a sense of apathy and distrust among the population that is too focused on finding a way to survive during a crippling economic crisis.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Gambia is among the world\u2019s 15 least-developed countries in the world, according to the United Nations (PDF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Tourism, the backbone of the country\u2019s economy, was squashed by the coronavirus pandemic, putting at risk the nearly 140,000 people involved in the sector. To further exacerbate the situation, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine triggered a hike in fuel and food prices across West Africa, including The Gambia.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Adama Gaye, a political analyst specialising in West Africa and former director of information of ECOWAS, believes that the economy is going to be Barrow\u2019s \u201cmain challenger\u201d in the legislative elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese shocks from outside have not been helpful to Barrow,\u201d said Gaye. \u201cSince he has been re-elected, the economy has been worsening so [the population] may blame it on him.\u201d Gaye added that issues related to sovereignty could haunt the president and deliver more votes to opposition candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome Gambians feel the need to re-assert their country\u2019s sovereignty over Senegalese and hence give a signal to Mr Barrow, making him understand that either he distances himself from Senegal or they will challenge him at the elections,\u201d Gaye added.<\/p>\n

The reference is to the ongoing hostilities between Senegal\u2019s breakaway region of Casamance pushing people to cross over and seek refuge in The Gambia.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Gambians to vote for 53 legislators on a five-year term, with President Barrow picking five others, including the parliament\u2019s president. Gambians have gone to the polls to vote for a new National Assembly in an election set to consolidate a young democracy. Polls opened at 8am (08:00 GMT) and will close at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-22747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Gambia votes for a new National Assembly - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gambians to vote for 53 legislators on a five-year term, with President Barrow picking five others, including the parlia ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gambia votes for a new National Assembly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gambians to vote for 53 legislators on a five-year term, with President Barrow picking five others, including the parlia ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-08T18:33:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-08T19:15:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_30-6341cc3c8222f.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"The Gambia votes for a new National Assembly\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-08T18:33:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-08T19:15:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2\"},\"wordCount\":588,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_30-6341cc3c8222f.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/the-gambia-votes-for-a-new-national-assembly-2\",\"name\":\"The Gambia votes for a new National Assembly - 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