Banjul: Gambia`s President Yahya Jammeh secured a new five-year term in the West African country on Friday after the election commission declared him the winner in a poll regionally criticised as being marked by intimidation of voters and the opposition.
Former military coup leader Jammeh scored a landslide 72 percent victory, according to results read out by Independent Electoral Commission chairman Alhagie Mustapha Carayol.
Leading opposition candidate Ousainou Darboe came in second with nearly 17 percent of the vote.
The regional bloc ECOWAS said Thursday`s vote in this tiny country on Africa`s western coast was marred by repression and intimidation.
Jammeh has rejected the idea of a unity government, saying: "I don`t have an opposition. What we have is people who hate this country and I will not work with them."
He has drawn international criticism for his claim he can cure AIDS with an herbal body rub and bananas. He first took power after a 1994 coup.
Bureau Report
