Massive voter turnout despite nationwide lock-down

Gambian voters lining up t cast ballot in presidential elections

The Gambia is a country on edge.  Its mercurial dictator who has ruled this sliver of a country in the belly of Senegal with an iron fist for 22 years is facing his biggest challenge yet at the polls not because majority of voters.

Voters are turn out in their numbers to vote for the candidate of their choice.  According to a source, an eyewitness confirm that "in Sukuta" the ballot box (drum) of Adama Barrow, the Coalition candidate was full to the brim and a new box had to be brought in.  A similar scenario is playing out in Baddibu according to reports from MamaLinguere Facebook page.

Jammeh may be facing his toughest test yet but Alieu Mamar Njie, the Chairman of the so-called Independent Electoral Commission is facing an equally daunting task of having to stay above the fray by defying the commands and directives of the Gambian dictator to rig the election results which by many sources, including internal assessments of the conditions in the field, have all but officially declared the Coalition candidate, Adama Barrow, the winner.

A source close to the IEC is reporting that the dilemma facing members of the IEC is that the day that the nominations were held, Yaya Jammeh, gave close to $ 500,000 to members of the Commission.  It is unclear to whom the money was delivered, its purpose or purposes and the beneficiaries.  The fact that Jammeh has been privately financing the operations of the IEC is not a secret.  He has admitted so publicly and as recently as last month in front of television cameras during his filing his nomination papers.

The voluminous voting trend in the Great Banjul Area which the most urbanized part of the country with a third of the voters suggests that Adama Barrow will win handsomely.  The question now is whether the IEC will go the right thing and declare the true vote count.  The world continues to watch as the polls are about to close without any significant incident.  But again, this is just the beginning of what will prove to be a long night.

UP-DATES :  We intend to bring you untainted up-dates throughout the night.  It will be a challenge given the lock-down and black-out Jammeh has plunge the country into.  But as we kept reminding him, the world is watching.