
Gambia's Jammeh in shock election loss after 22-year rule - bandrami
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-gambia-election-idUSKBN13R18G?il=0
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randomafrican
Then again, The Gambia is special.

They have held multiparty free and open elections from independance until 1994
(Jammeh's coup). This a continent where most countries had experienced Coups,
Single-Party rule or both by 1970. (The only country with continuous
multiparty democracy is Botswana)

Jammeh himself quickly felt the need to organise elections to legitimize his
rule. Sure there was intimidation and other manoeuvers but oddly he almost
always won with results in the high 50's. Those are crazy tight results by
African standards (even in democracies incumbents rarely go lower than 60).

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davidmr
Apropos of nothing, the proper anglicized name of the country is The Gambia,
which along with The Bahamas, are the only two countries whose official names
include "The".

Obviously Reuters knows what they're doing and I'm sure adhere quite strictly
to their popular style guide, so I find it interesting that their editors omit
the "The". I wonder why.

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tyingq
I can't tell what they mean here, but:
[http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php?title=G#Gambia](http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php?title=G#Gambia)

 _" Gambia: Not the Gambia, West Africa"_

~~~
cdubzzz
Sounds like they are specifically _not_ calling it the _T /the_ Gambia, for
whatever reason.

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lb1lf
The Norwegian Broadcasting Service just announced that he had conceded defeat
to the head of the electoral commission.

However, they stressed that Jammeh had not yet publicly conceded.

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finid
_Defeat and a concession from Jammeh would be momentous._

Yep, that would be huge and unprecedented.

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bglazer
Gambia was recently the subject of an attempted coup by a group of Gambian-
American immigrants.

It's a really fascinating story. A group of middle-aged middle-class
immigrants from Gambia plotted, and attempted to overthrow Jammeh.

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/21/how-former-
us-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/21/how-former-us-army-
officer-launched-disastrous-coup-the-gambia)

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pavlov
Gambia largely lives on tourism. Any political instability could have
disastrous effects on the economy. Maybe Jammeh realizes that and will concede
peacefully.

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ceejayoz
> Jammeh's eccentricities often made headlines. He once said he had invented a
> herbal cure for AIDS that only works on a Thursdays. Once every year he also
> invited a few hundred women to the grounds of State House, where he
> personally administered a another herbal cure he had concocted for
> infertility.

Yeah, that sounds like someone who's gonna peacefully accept election results.

~~~
randomafrican
That's why everybody uses the word "shock"

He has not publicly conceded yet (so we may still get a surprise) but :

\- his electoral commission has announced the results

\- the head of his electoral commission has announced Jammeh will conceide

\- rumour says his concession video has been recorded

\- the internet that has been cut-off on election's eve is functionning again

\- soldiers who were deployed have left the streets

It really sound this is happening

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cdubzzz
> \- soldiers who were deployed have left the streets

Is it known whether or not the soldiers in this case are loyal to Jammeh? Just
thinking about what happened in Burkina with Compaoré.

