Opposition candidate Adama Barrow pulled off a stunning victory in The Gambia, comfortably winning a presidential election and putting an end to the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh, official results showed Friday. Jammeh had conceded defeat, the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said as Gambians began to take to the streets to celebrate the biggest upset in the west African nation since Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup.
"It's really unique that someone who has been ruling this country for so long has accepted defeat," Alieu Momar Njie told reporters. Barrow won 54.54 percent (263,515 votes) while Jammeh took 36.66 percent (212,099) and third party candidate Mama Kandeh 102,969 votes (17.80 percent) in the Thursday poll, the IEC said.
Turnout was around 65 percent. Jammeh, who once said he would govern for a billion years if God willed it, was attempting to win a fifth term with his Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC). On the streets of Bakau, a district on the outskirts of the capital Banjul, Gambians began an impromptu street party, drumming, dancing and honking car horns. "This man (Jammeh) beat and oppressed us," a young man who gave his name as Jawara told AFP. "We didn't have our freedom but definitely Barrow will give it to us," he added, choking back tears.
Gambian state television told AFP that Jammeh would make a statement later in the day to congratulate opposition leader Barrow, 51. Some 60 percent of the population live in poverty in The Gambia, and a third survive on $1.25 (1.20 euro) or less a day, according to the UN.