Independent Candidate who secured only 2% of the votes cast in Saturday’s presidential election, Essa Mbye Faal, told reporters on Monday he has now accepted the verdict of Gambians who relected President Adama Barrow on Saturday.
Faal joined Ousainou Darboe – Barrow’s main rival who emerged runner-up with 28% of the total votes cast – and Mama Kandeh who emerged 3rd with 12% of the votes, into rejecting the results three hours before Adama Barrow was declared winner with 53% of the votes.
“I have called President-elect Adama Barrow and congratulated him on his re-election. We have heard a good conversation about the future of this country,” Faal said. “…the credibility of the election was confirmed by both international and domestic observers.”
Darboe and Kandeh have yet to withdraw their rejection of the December 4 election results, which local and international observers said was conducted in an atmosphere free and fair. They didn’t file a petition with the Supreme Court to challenge Barrow’s election either.
Kandeh told journalists on Monday that he will not congratulate Barrow. “I am still not accepting it [the results]. I will not take my phone and call Adama Barrow and tell him he has won. I will not do it. I don’t have the power to stop him being president but I own myself,” said Kandeh, who is Barrow’s agemate at 56.
Faal, 55, is the former prosecutor at Gambia’s Truth Commission, who helped expose massive human rights violations allegedly committed under Yahya Jammeh’s 22-years rule.
He is a former defence attorney at the International Criminal Court and had represented Charlse Taylor of Liberia, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi of Libya, and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya – all of whom faced war crime charges.
Faal later worked as a senior lawyer for the ICC before he moved to Gambia to lead the Truth Commission’s investigations into human rights abuses.
