Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: December 29, 2021 at 17:06 IST
Supreme Court of Gambia rejected the Plea of United Democratic Party (UDP), which Accused the election of Adama Barrow as the President, of actually being the result of Bribery and Corruption. The Plea sought for the annulment of the Election results.
Chief Justice Hassan B Jallow stated in the Judgment, “The UDP failed to comply with the requirement of Rule 11 of the Election Petition Rule, which required that you file a motion of Petition and security.”
The Plea accused the members of National People’s Party (the elected party) of Bribing villagers by offering them cash and gifts, in order to lure the villagers into voting for the National People’s Party (NPP). The Petitioners also Alleges that NPP had invading the election commission.
On December 4, 2021, the results of the Presidential Elections were announced, in which Adama Barrow won with 53 percent of the votes while the leader of opposition Ousainou Darboe got 28 percent of the votes.
Ousainou Darboe in regards with the Judgment stated, “We have not lost anything because the Petition was not dismissed based on merit but a mere technicality. We should be proud of ourselves for what we have done and will continue to do for the country.”
Ousainou Darboe did not make statement in regards with whether the United Democratic Party or he himself would take any kind of step challenging the Election which resulted in Adama Barrow becoming the President of Gambia.