Gambian President Yahya Jammeh will face two opposition candidates in a November 24 presidential election he has already said he is sure to win, the poll body said Thursday.
The tiny west African country’s National Independent Electoral Commission confirmed the names of the poll’s three candidates as Jammeh, seeking a fourth term in office, Ousainou Darboe and Hamat Bah.
Darboe, the 63-year-old leader of the main opposition United Democratic Party, won 26.69 percent of votes in 2006.
Bah, 51, is running for the third time but this time under the banner of the newly-formed United Front, which comprises four opposition parties.
Opposition parties last month failed to reach agreement on a common candidate to challenge the 46-year-old Jammeh, who was first elected in 1996.
A total of 796,929 Gambians have registered to vote in the upcoming election, up from the 670,000 on electoral rolls in 2006.
Jammeh is often pilloried by international rights groups for human rights abuses and a crackdown on journalists, many of whom have disappeared, been killed or fled the country.
He dresses in white flowing robes, claims to be able to cure AIDS with a mixture of herbs and mysticism and has said he will not campaign, saying his poll victory is « a foregone conclusion » and only God can remove him from ower.
Opposition parties have complained about an 11-day election campaign period, saying it is « grossly inadequate ».
However Jammeh has been credited with the development of roads, schools and hospitals in the smallest country on Africa’s mainland — a sliver of land wedged into Senegal and home to about 1.6 million people.
According to the World Bank the country is on track to reach its Millennium Development Goals. But poverty is widespread, with 67 percent of the population living on less than 1.25 dollars a day. –
ANP/AFP
