By Lamin Cham
The eight mayors and chairpersons elected on Saturday, all but one of them on the United Democratic Party, UDP, ticket will take office starting from Wednesday, subject o confirmation by the elected persons themselves, reliable sources told The Standard.
They will begin their mandate as head of their respective councils for the next five years and their election on Saturday brought to a close the Gambia’s electoral cycle which began on 1 December 2016 with the historic presidential election.
Again as in the ward elections, the United Democratic Party won the most seats beating a large field of independent and party candidates to win 7 out of the 8 seats.
The most memorable UDP victory came in Banjul when for the first time, a woman has been elected as mayor, after Rohey Malick Lowe won a tight race against 8 others including incumbent Lie Bah.
The UDP’s Talib Bensouda too beat an allay of rivals to lift the most important region, KM while Sheriffo Sonko won the second biggest council, BAC on the UDP ticket.
There were UDP successes in NBR, URR, and CRR North.
However the opposition Gambia Democratic Congress, GDC, won the CRR South or Kuntaur Area Council, becoming the only opposition party with a municipal head seat.
Despite the bitter exchange of words and heightened tension, the election passed peacefully and the process was generally praised for its transparency and credibility.
Some of the losing candidates congratulated their winning opponents and even pledged to share ideas with them.
Bakary Badjie, the independent candidate was the first to do so when he called Bensouda on the phone to congratulate him.
The Papa Njie campaign too issued the following statement yesterday:
“The office of the independent candidate Papa Njie hereby declares that we accept that Talib Bensouda has won the election for mayor of Kanifing Municipality.
“We hereby congratulate Talib Bensouda and the UDP for this victory. We pray that Allah guides and protects the mayor-elect and his team.
We thank our supporters and well-wishers for their trust, confidence and efforts throughout this election period. Calling on residents of Kanifing Municipality to support the in-coming administration and brush aside all political differences for a united front for the development of the municipality.”
The final official results from IEC for
2018 local government elections.
Mansa Konko Area Council
Mr L.Sanneh UDP = 10,882
Mr F.L Sarr Gdc = 4,111
Banjul Area Council
Rohey Lowe UDP = 2,836
Lie Bah INDE = 2,292
Ebou Faye INDE = 1,871
Lizzie Euson IND = 1,576
Hala Samba IND = 1,258
Lie Saine APRC = 554
Pa Musa Njie GDC = 188
ALagie Jah INDE = 118
Paul Bass INDE = 71
Janjangbureh Area Council
Janko Sanneh UDP = 9,145
Mr S. Camara GDC = 7,463
ALagie boye NRP = 1,469
A.Sam MbyePDOIS = 1517
Kuntaur Area Council
Mr Jobarteh. UDP = 6,265
Saiko Jawara GDC = 6,308
Mstapha Jobe NRP = 4,593
Basse Area Council
Foday Danjo UDP = 14,109
Pateh Baldeh GDC = 9,767
Ansu Sonko PDOIS = 3,530
Kerewan Area Council
ML I Bojang UDP = 16,483
Ablie Jallow GDC = 12,628
Ablie Dibba PDOIS = 2,115
Mrs N Secka NRP = 1,577
Brikama Area Council
Sheriffo Sonko UDP = 32,698
Baks Sanneh APRC = 24,697
Lamin Jammeh IND = 5,363
Fansu Sanneh GDC = 4,760
Kanifing Area Council
T. Bensouda UDP = 29,325
Rambo Jatta APRC = 17,392
Papa Njie IND = 8,327
Bakary Badjie IND = 5,236
Adama Bah PDOIS = 2,941
Dawda Njie GDC = 2,247
Francis Gomez IND = 812
Modou Jenkins IND = 645
B. Senghore IND = 330
