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On Thursday April 6, 2017, Parliamentary Elections took place in The Gambia. These were the first National Assembly Elections to take place since the Presidential Election in December of 2016 when Gambians voted in new President Adama Barrow to lead the West African nation.
The Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Alieu Momarr Njai declared on national television that the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) won 5 seats, the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) won 5 seats, the Gambia Democratic Party won 5 seats, the People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) won 4 seats, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won 2 seats and an independent candidate also won a seat. President Barrow’s party, United Democratic Party (UDP), won 31 seats.
The election was monitored by dozens of observers. The African Union, the European Union, ECOWAS and other groups of international bodies have hailed the peaceful election as free, fair and transparent. Members of these groups were quoted referring to the election as healthy, democratic and well-administered.
886,578 registered Gambian voters were eligible to exercise their democratic right in last week’s election conducted by the IEC. The 58 parliamentary members, of which 53 are elected and 5 are appointed, hold 5 year terms in the National Assembly.
Electoral Services International Inc. (ESI) would like to congratulate its partners and friends at the IEC and the people of The Gambia for last week’s democratic accomplishment.