Barrow’s party wins Gambia parliamentary election

Gambian President Adama Barrow’s United Democratic Party (UDP) has won Thursday’s parliamentary election, taking 31 seats in the 53-member parliament, the electoral commission announced Friday.

Former president Yahya Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) came second alongside Gambia Democratic Congress, a party formed by a former lawmaker in Jammeh’s regime.

The two parties took five seats each.

The election of a new parliament was seen as an important step towards establishing a democracy after more than two decades of Jammeh’s autocratic rule in the West African nation.

The poll – the country’s first election since Jammeh went into exile in January, saw 239 candidates from nine political parties competing for 48 seats in the national assembly.

Five additional seats will be appointed by Barrow, who took power on Jan. 19.

It was hoped in the nation of 1.8 million people that the legislative election will provide Gambia with a functional national assembly that will help amend the wrongs committed during Jammeh’s regime.