United States senators Jim Risch of the state of Idaho, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois; chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patrick Leahy from Vermont along with Senators Chris Coons from Delaware, Mike Rounds from South Dakota, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, and John Boozman of Arkansas, last week introduced a bipartisan resolution in the US senate expressing support for a free, fair and peaceful presidential election in The Gambia.
The upcoming election will be the first presidential election since longtime autocrat Yahya Jammeh lost his reelection bid in 2016.
“The Gambia’s December 4th presidential election serves as a crucial milestone in the country’s democratic transition and has the potential to validate that Gambians reject sliding backwards toward the brutality, madness, and dysfunction Yahya Jammeh forced upon them for decades,” said Risch.
“This resolution is an affirmation of the United States’ commitment to the Gambian people as they enter into these historic presidential elections, continue to work towards building a stronger democracy, and reckon with the abuses and crimes of the past,” the senator stated.
