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"We all need to thank our stars for having the most peaceful election campaigns this country has ever witnessed since the advent of the APRC regime, which even though can be attributed to many factors, but most of the credit should definitely go to all the presidential candidates and their supporters, as well as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), for comporting themselves throughout the period.

However, the most important factor for the maintenance of the peace had been attributed to President Yahya Jammeh’s continuous call on his supporters throughout the campaign to maintain the peace, which was no doubt quite a significant factor in the peaceful nature of the campaign.

However, the peaceful nature of the elections was just one aspect, but certainly, despite all the efforts made by the IEC to ensure a level playing field, President Jammeh had had more than a fair share of incumbency advantage. During his campaign tour, which he dubbed, a ‘thank you’ tour, we saw him accompanied by all the security chiefs, almost half of the officers and men of the Gambia National Army and the Gambia Police Force, together with the other security apparatus, as well as almost all senior civil servants. We also saw almost half of the fleet of government vehicles and army trucks being mobilized to join the campaign and being used to transport APRC supporters to the different venues. It was however quite an embarrassment to see our soldiers and the police in uniform, who are supposed to be on duty to secure this country, singing and dancing with the crowd and scrambling with the civilian population to catch ‘T’ shirts and biscuits being thrown from President Jammeh’s vehicle.

Yet, there was not even a single policeman seen accompanying the opposition candidates throughout their campaign, as if they did not deserve any protection from the state. That itself was a clear indication of the sort of lopsided democracy operating in this country.

However, one group that accompanied President Jammeh’s campaign tour which has stirred the biggest disappointment amongst most people was the leadership of the Supreme Islamic Council and some respectable imams. “If the very people we look up to for spiritual guidance can stoop so low just because of the crumbs they get from President Jammeh and his regime, then this country is certainly heading for the rocks,” said one analyst. He questioned how long Gambians will continue to adore and respect their religious leaders if those leaders are seen to blatantly disregard their spiritual responsibilities in favour of money and material consideration."

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