NEWS

Gambians vote in condemned elections 

Gambians are voting in presidential elections condemned by the West African regional body, ECOWAS, as lacking legitimacy. ECOWAS said the election has been marked by the intimidation of opposition groups and voters. The incumbent President Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in 1994, is seeking re-election. 

Regional body ECOWAS, in an unusually strong criticism of a member state, said on Tuesday it would not send a mission to observe the poll "because the preparations and political environment ... are adjudged by the commission not to be conducive for the conduct of free, fair and transparent polls.

" It said a fact-finding mission had found "an unacceptable level of control of the electronic media by the party in power ... and an opposition and electorate cowed by repression and intimidation".  Nearly 800,000 Gambians are registered to vote in the election pitting Jammeh against two opposition rivals. 

Because of high rates of illiteracy, voters are casting their ballot by putting a glass marble into a coloured drum representing their candidate. Analysts say Jammeh's election to a new five-year term is a foregone conclusion after 17 years of rule that began with a 1994 coup and has been marked by lethal crackdowns on protests, mass arrests of opponents and military reshuffles.