The United States congratulates President Adama Barrow of The Gambia for his victory in the recent presidential elections. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement, “The United States applauds the Gambian people for ensuring their voices were heard...Gambians cast their votes with a turnout of nearly 90 percent of registered voters in a free and fair presidential election that was held peacefully.”
The United States Embassy, as well as the European Union and African Union observers, found the election was conducted in accordance with international standards. Spokesperson Price said that “minor procedural irregularities” were noted, as was the need for “broader structural reforms to the electoral process.”
It will be President Barrow’s second term in office. He was first elected in 2016, defeating President Yahya Jammeh, whose decades-long tenure was marked by corruption and severe human rights abuses. In 2017, The Gambia’s government set up the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission to investigate human rights violations that took place under the Jammeh administration. That report was completed in November 2021 and given to President Barrow, but it has yet to be made public. He has six months to act upon its findings.
In congratulating President Barrow and recognizing the significant progress made in The Gambia since 2017, Spokesperson Price said the United States “urges a reinvigoration in a second Barrow administration of the many reform efforts promised in 2016 that remain unfinished. Among them are reforms to dismantle the architecture and tools of oppression and firmly build a foundation based on human rights, access to justice, and democratic, transparent, accountable governance. These include constitutional and electoral reforms, as well as accountability through implementation of the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission.”
“As was the case in December 2016,” Spokesperson Price declared, “Gambians once again serve as an inspiration in their peaceful pursuit of representative governance and civic participation in the political process.”
