ECOWAS, AU others congratulate Gambian President-elect, Adama Barrow

The ECOWAS Commission, the African Union Commission and the United Nations (UN) Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) have congratulated the people of The Gambia for a peaceful, free, fair and transparent presidential election held on Thursday, December 1.

A statement issued by the Commission in Abuja yesterday said it was in line with the provisions of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and the AU Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Chairperson of the AU Commission and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to West Africa commended President Yahya Jammeh for gracefully conceding defeat and congratulated Mr. Adama Barrow on winning the presidential election.

They further gave kudos to the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the people of The Gambia and the international community for their relentless efforts to ensure a successful and smooth electoral process.

They expressed satisfaction with the maturity, calm and dignity with which the country a conducted a peaceful, credible and uncontested election and stand in solidarity with the government and the people of The Gambia to ensure constitutional and legal transition and peaceful transfer of power.

“The international community hopes that the newly elected President will engage the citizenry to combat poverty by putting in place the needed programmes necessary for creating jobs for the teeming youths for a sustainable economic development,” the statement added.