By Amara Thoronka
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) yesterday announced incumbent President Adama Barrow winner of Saturday’s presidential polls in The Gambia, making him duly re-elected President of the Republic of The Gambia.
Recently, the Center for Policy, Research and Strategic Studies (CepRass) conducted an opinion poll survey on the voting intentions of Gambians. The survey, “The Gambia Pre-election Opinion Poll Survey 2021,” indicated that President Barrow was going to win in all the seven regions in the country.
The Opinion Poll inferred that President Adama Barrow of National Peoples Party (NPP) will win the presidential election, while Ousainou Darboe of United Democratic Party (UDP) will secure second position. Mama Kandeh of Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC) was positioned third while Halifa Sallah of Peoples Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) took fourth. Abdoulei Jammeh of National Unity Party (NUP) and independent candidate Essa Mbye Faal were said to take fifth and sixth positions respectively.
Interestingly, the result announced by the IEC seems to be a reflection of CepRass’ election opinion poll. In the just declared result, President Barrow came first with 457,519 votes, followed by Ousainou Darboe who got 238,253 votes; Mama Kandeh with 105,902 votes; Halifa Sallah with 32,435 votes; Essa Mbye Faal with 17,206 votes and Abdoulei Jammeh with 8,252 votes.
Election Opinion Polls are conducted to know the voting intentions of voters before polling day. They show the popularity of election aspirants and how voters perceive them.
